Beatie Wolfe-Smoke and Mirrors

Boston Globe announce imPRINTING at the Museum of Science (article)

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Smoke and MirrorS by Beatie wolfe

Methane Data x Big Oil Ads since the first Earth Day

 

A new project from Beatie Wolfe β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ uses art to communicate 6 decades of climate data, specifically rising methane levels (Smoke), set alongside the verbatim advertising slogans deployed by the Big Oil industry to deny, doubt, and delay (Mirrors) climate awareness through the decades, starting from 1970 until present day.

1970: "Out to clean the air" at 1351.7 ppb ch4 🌎

1984: "Lies they tell our children" at 1644.9 ppb ch4 🌍

1991: "Doomsday is cancelled" at 1724.8 ppb ch4 🌏

1993: "Apocalypse no" at 1736.5 ppb ch4 🌎

2000: "Unsettled Science" at 1773.22 ppb ch4 🌍

2004: "Your carbon footprint" at 1777.05 ppb ch4 🌏

2012: "License to operate" at 1808.1 ppb ch4 🌎

2017: "Oil pumps life" at 1849.58 ppb ch4 🌍

2023: "Net-Zero" at 1911.8 ppb ch4 β›½

1970: "Out to clean the air" at 1351.7 ppb ch4 🌎 1984: "Lies they tell our children" at 1644.9 ppb ch4 🌍 1991: "Doomsday is cancelled" at 1724.8 ppb ch4 🌏 1993: "Apocalypse no" at 1736.5 ppb ch4 🌎 2000: "Unsettled Science" at 1773.22 ppb ch4 🌍 2004: "Your carbon footprint" at 1777.05 ppb ch4 🌏 2012: "License to operate" at 1808.1 ppb ch4 🌎 2017: "Oil pumps life" at 1849.58 ppb ch4 🌍 2023: "Net-Zero" at 1911.8 ppb ch4 β›½

This evocative visualization, based on NASA’s Blue Marble photograph and produced in collaboration with Parliament will be set to β€œOh My Heart”, which was released as the world’s first bioplastic record by Beatie Wolfe, Michael Stipe and Brian Eno’s EarthPercent.

Smoke and Mirrors follows Wolfe’s multi-award winning β€˜From Green to Red’ which was unveiled at Nobel Prize Summit and projected as the largest art piece at COP26

Smoke and Mirrors was influenced by the work of Geoffrey Supran & Naomi Oreskes and sources data from NOAA, NASA, EEA

 

Highlights So Far

Prix Ars Electronica - Winner

The world's most time-honored media arts award, Prix Ars Electronica announces that its "Golden Nica 2024" will be awarded to Beatie Wolfe’s β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ with the ceremony being held in Linz on September 4th 2024 - announcement (+) / festival review (+)

 

SXSW Art Installation

Invited as the only official art piece of SXSW’24 β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ was first unveiled and installed as an official art piece throughout the festival following a featured session with the SXSW’s Co-President - listing (+)

 

Ars Electronica Center

As part of the museum β€œConnected Earth” exhibition which runs throughout 2025 and 2026 Smoke and Mirrors is presented within the main exhibition hall

 

Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz

Considered to be one of the most important museums of modern and contemporary art in Austria, β€œSmoke and Mirrors” was exhibited to some 112,000 visitors from over 60 countries.

Alongside the data art piece, Beatie Wolfe and Michael Stipe’s bioplastic EarthPercent record was exhibited as both the soundtrack to the visualisation and a tangible environmental solution to the production of vinyl

 

SXSW Featured Session

Hugh Forrest, SXSW’s Co-President & Chief Programming Officer, interviews Beatie Wolfe about how her work unites Art and Science - SXSW listing (+)

TOA (Tech Open Air)

Berlin’s leading technology event, TOA, celebrates its 10th anniversary in the iconic Colosseum in Berlin with the European Premiere of β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ - listing (+)

BFI (British Film Institute)

In Austin for the official XR launch, Ulrich Schrauth (BFI) interviews Beatie Wolfe about β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ and her world first designs

 

Systemic Change Through Climate Literacy

Wolfe also spoke alongside ClientEarth for an environmental literacy panel titled "Systemic Change Through Climate Literacy" - more (+)

Data and Science Visualization

Data science visualizations took center stage at the animation festival with Wolfe joining work from NASA & NCSA Advanced Visualization Lab - more (+)

 

Smoke

Methane (CH4) data from NOAA/NASA/EEA

Methane CH4
ˈmiː.ΞΈeΙͺn

is a colorless, odorless and highly flammable gas. It is composed of carbon and hydrogen. It is also a potent greenhouse gas, meaning it affects climate change by contributing to increased warming (US Environmental Protection Agency)

Mirrors

Adverts from Big Oil

Highlights

Statement of Intent

I had the idea for β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ a few years ago, after my CO2 project β€˜From Green to Red’ came out and I saw how effectively it helped people to see climate data differently and to absorb it via the power of art. Realising that a crucial piece of the climate puzzle (how we got to this critical point) has been the fossil fuel industry’s response to the emerging environmental awareness of the 1970s, and that methane emissions (30 times more potent than carbon for trapping heat) are increasingly linked with that industry, I wanted to illuminate this key parallel timeline.

While β€˜From Green to Red’ visualised 800,000 years of rising CO2 levels, β€˜Smoke and Mirrors’ focuses on fifty years of methane data set alongside the Big Oil advertising campaigns that were running during this critical period in human history. Smoke and Mirrors is about visualising not just the methane data (smoke) in a way people can really absorb but also the disinformation campaign (mirrors) which has caused the data to be denied, doubted and delayed through the decades. Smoke and Mirrors begins in 1970, which was also the year we had our first β€˜Earth Day,’ so I chose to base the visualisation on the iconic and deeply embedded NASA Blue Marble photograph (taken in 1972) that allowed us to see our planet for the first time. This was a key point in our timeline for both emerging environmental awareness and the backlash against it.

Like β€˜From Green to Red’ which was set to the song I wrote as a teenager after seeing An Inconvenient Truth, this visualisation is set to a similarly interlinked track, β€œOh My Heart,” which was released as the world’s first bioplastic record with the music in both cases helping to activate and humanise the data.

There was extensive research involved with building out this project, which stands apart from the video and is viewable on the website, including: compiling the ice core and atmospheric methane data along with the Big Oil advertising campaigns from 1970 until present day. It was then about choosing which campaigns to highlight to help illustrate the full spectrum of β€œDeny, Doubt and Delay” in just 4m30s.

Prix Ars Electronica // Jury Statement

Smoke and Mirrors is a scientific visualization that confronts us with the ever increasing tension between scientific facts about global warming and ideological positions denying such science. An emissions clock at the top of the screen rapidly counts the amount of methane in parts per billion as the 3D globe image starts to emit a pinkish smoke: a data visualization of methane density since 1970. As the Earth slowly turns and fills up with smoke, a series of still-to-this-day shocking headlines unfurls across the screen: β€œOil pumps Life,” β€œUnsettled Science,” and β€œDoomsday is Cancelled.” These headlines demonstrate six decades of climate denialism and misinformation in the public sphere from Big Oil corporations. Smoke and Mirrors is inspired by the path-breaking work of Harvard historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran, who have extensively examined how fossil fuel companies have long strategized to shift responsibility for global warming away from the fossil fuel industry and onto consumers while also depicting climate change as a β€œrisk,” rather than a reality. Smoke and Mirrors impressed the jury not only through its stark message but also in its reimagining of scientific data visualization. Visualization pioneer Edward Tufte popularized the notion that data should speak for itself, minimizing the influence of the designer. Smoke and Mirrors takes a deliberate departure from this traditional approach. Instead of letting the data stand alone, it boldly incorporates historical headlines that are in direct opposition of scientific facts, inviting the viewer to question prevailing narratives about environmental responsibility and accountability. This deliberate strategy compels the audience to confront the misalignment between scientific data and advertisement-driven public perception, emphasizing the magnitude of the climate crisis in a thought-provoking manner. Rather than being just a pure data visualization, this piece is a data β€œvisceralization”, intentionally evoking feelings of discomfort and awe. In Data Feminism, Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein highlight the importance of acknowledging subjectivity and emotion in data work, arguing that data practices should engage with complexity and challenge existing power structures. In this vein, Smoke and Mirrors exemplifies how data can be wielded not just to inform but to disrupt narratives, urging viewers to reconsider their perspectives on urgent societal issues - more (+)

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Credits

The Smoke and Mirrors installation at SXSW24 was part of the Future Art and Culture programme at SXSW produced by British Underground and Arts Council England with partnership support from the British Council