Entangled Life - Panel talk: Climate Activism and Socially Engaged Art

Anthony Freeman O’Brien (Artist & Community Worker)
Seoidín O’Sullivan (Artist & Lecturer, NCAD and Creative Futures Academy)
India Ryan (Office Manager & Space Curator, Bohemian FC Climate Team)
Sophie von Maltzan (Artist, Researcher & Landscape Architect, Activist and part- time Farmer)

Climate Activism and Socially Engaged Art brings together four practitioners whose work is deeply rooted in place, participation, and environmental justice. This talk offers multiple entry points into how climate activism unfolds locally, through acts of care, civic engagement, and collective imagination.

We will explore the varied ways in which artists and community activists work with local ecologies and social networks. Our speakers will discuss how they create conditions for their work, from their own unique viewpoint; nurturing biodiversity in urban environments, fostering interdisciplinary ecological learning, facilitating grassroots climate action, or reimagining public spaces as a shared site of agency. 

The discussion will consider both practice and process: how projects emerge from lived experience; the nuances of gaining trust; and how artistic and activist approaches can uncover hidden systems, challenge extractive spatial and economic structures, and support communities in envisioning more equitable futures. Our guests will reflect on what they have learned through their work, the complexities of advocacy within cultural and civic systems, and the practical and emotional challenges of holding space in a moment of polycrisis.

It will be an evening where approaches and strategies are compared, and critically explored the role of socially engaged art in shaping climate discourse. It also opens opportunities for local community members to tell the story from their own perspective. 

We invite the wider community and communities of interest to join us in this open conversation and share their insights and perspectives. Time is set before and after the talk to gather informally. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and share their thoughts and experiences in a relaxed exchange, blurring the usual roles of panellist and audience.