Regen Art Lab

Project description

Regen Art Lab is a project that brings artists into the England-based energy research organisation Regen to work with members of staff on themed projects lasting a few months. Each project ends with an artistic output that seeks to illuminate an issue in new ways, but there is equal focus on the process of collaboration between artists and energy researchers, seeking to unlock new ways of thinking and working on difficult issues. The residency is targeted at early career artists and aims to platform under-represented voices through creative work.

Origins

The Art Lab was set up by Sophie Winney and Emma Pavans de Ceccatty. The idea developed from previous arts-based work that Regen had done, including a musical and a collaboration with a poet. The programme was informally initiated by gathering interest from colleagues within the organisation, which led to a budget being assigned for a pilot year, as Regen is a mission-led organisation with freedom to experiment with new approaches. Support among staff started to grow once projects were up and running. Sophie notes how colleagues were able to see the importance of the work and relate it to their relationships with arts and culture outside of work. The Art Lab has now become established as a work area and is going into its fourth year at the time of writing.

‘I found it particularly interesting and perhaps a bit surprising how quickly we were having deeply personal conversations around heat technologies in the sessions we ran with the wider team.’

Sophie Whinney, Regen staff member

Structure

Each residency is normally split into three parts taking place over a four-month period:

• Phase 1 is for research and exploration, with sessions for the artist to discuss the issues being explored with experts, and to develop their own understanding.
• Phase 2 involves the artist and energy experts working together on developing ideas for artworks that would help illuminate these issues and deal with barriers they are facing.
• Phase 3 involves the production and sharing of new artworks via public events and online channels.

The residency is set up so that artists can apply from anywhere in the country, with most interactions happening online, and in-person meetings only taking place at critical points. Artists are able to focus their projects on where they were based, given that Regen’s work is not tied to a particular location. For example, Cameron Naylor organised his residency around interviews with people in his home town of Manchester.

Artists are paired up with experts at Regen depending on the avenues they are interested in exploring. They meet regularly, with one or two main points of contact who are then able to facilitate conversations with other members of staff. Artists carry out research with support from Regen through sharing information or setting up interviews with industry experts. Each residency usually ends with a sharing event, either online or in person, and an exit interview with the artists to gather feedback.

‘This project has been incredibly challenging to my practice in all the best ways. It’s helped challenge my compositional choices, as well as understand how co-developing in this way helps to innovate in new and exciting ways.’

Cameron Naylor, Artist

Results

So far, three residencies have taken place, themed around decarbonising heating, energy democracy and community energy, and rural transport. These themes matched up with some of Regen’s key work areas and sought to address issues they encounter. For example, decarbonising heat in homes is a huge part of the net-zero transition, but an area that Regen has found lacks public awareness and political will to bring about substantial change. Karenza Sparks’ project therefore focused on communication. Electrifying transport requires careful thought about barriers that people face and how these can be accounted for in policies. The Disconnected Together film focused on platforming the perspectives on transport from people living in rural areas of Devon and Cornwall.

Creative work produced during these projects includes:

• A set of Heat Creatures figures and playing cards by Karenza Sparks, which aimed to make abstract technical issues fun and accessible by providing a visual representation of them.
• A Sounding Connections audio collage by Cameron Naylor, which combined various conversations with experts about energy democracy.
• A film written and produced by Hattie Collins with illustrations by Clara Cornish and music by Rowan Evans, which used extracts from conversations with rural residents about public transport and sustainability.

The creative work remains available for Regen and the artists to continue making use of. The Heat Creatures have become a regular fixture of community events, while Sounding Connections was performed at Green Phoenix Festival 2024. Increasingly, the residencies are focused on working with reference materials from interviews and archives, so that the resulting artworks present a diverse array of voices. The organisers felt this was important, both for getting outside a professional ‘bubble’ and for providing more structure that helped limit the broad scope of the subject matter.

‘Democratising energy, and supporting a bottom-up approach is a key tenet of community energy. This art piece exemplifies that principle through interviewing people on the ground and amplifying their voices.’

Prina Sumaria, Regen staff

Sustainability issues

Climate justice

The projects deliberately engaged with energy issues that have strong connections with social justice. They had plenty of scope to involve people in conversation and connect energy to concerns that matter to them, such as keeping warm in winter or access to transport.

Communication

As there was engagement with some of the trickiest issues associated with the energy transition, the artists found ways to humanise and mainstream the topics to help reach new audiences. This is important because problems such as decarbonising home heating require the development of public support and understanding alongside technological advances. They will require social changes that cannot be attained without the buy in of a significant proportion of the population.

New methods

The residencies provided opportunities for researchers to work with artists to develop new ways of working, thinking and communicating the issues they specialise in. Regen staff commented on how working on creative projects helped them find new solutions to seemingly intransigent issues. The same was true for artists, who had the opportunity to learn new skills. For example, Cameron Naylor developed interactive web building skills as part of this project.

Platforming perspectives

Increasingly, the artist projects have focused on highlighting a diverse set of opinions on energy issues by integrating material from interviews with experts and members of the public into their creative work. The artworks have thus helped to inform Regen staff’s understanding of barriers that members of the public may face as part of energy transitions.

‘Working with Karenza, an artist who came to this with no pre-conceived ideas about heat, has been refreshing and rewarding. I have enjoyed sharing my knowledge of the sector, challenging myself not to pass on too many of my own conclusions about what might be “best”, whilst also not giving unrealistic ideas about the limits of different solutions.’

Mark Howard, Regen staff

Lessons, tips and advice

• Much of the value of the residency lies in the ability of artists and researchers to work together to influence each other reciprocally. This allows for more impact than if the artists were to simply produce work in response to existing research. It also gives researchers an opportunity to practice explaining their work to people outside their field.
• Regen found it useful to give the residencies a focus to avoid the scope becoming too broad, first through a theme and then through the stipulation of working with material from interviews. Similarly, artists found they needed to select a particular angle to engage with, rather than attempting to create something that could summarise the wider issues.
• However, it was also important not to over constrain the artists or determine outcomes too early. There can be an expectation that the deliverables of a project will be known from the start, but this fails to account for the way that outputs can emerge during the process of artistic research. Putting too many constraints in place can limit the effectiveness of a project.
• It was important to involve the whole team at Regen, embedding the programme within the organisation and framing it as something that could contribute to organisation-wide aims. Organisers needed to offer a clear vision for what the programme can achieve and show its full value. There is a risk that artistic work can be understood as falling simply under marketing and promotion, when there are many aspects of artistic research that can have value elsewhere.
• Regen initially struggled to get public attendance at sharing events, given that they are not generally a public facing organisation. They have now pivoted towards working with cultural venues and existing events to reach public audiences. Creating digital artworks such as film or sound collage allowed them to be reach wider audiences online.
• It was important that the residencies also provided useful development opportunities for the artists through access to experts, resources, and an opportunity to develop their portfolio of work.
  There is always a risk that artists end up spending more time on projects than they are paid for. It is essential not to normalise this and to encourage artists to speak up if they think they are being overworked.

‘Ultimately, this residency has made me want to collaborate and engage with more people outside of my known sphere, and has highlighted the incredible value in collaborating and communicating across disciplines and industries.’

Karenza Sparks, artist

Partners and stakeholders

Regen is a not-for-profit company supporting the transition to a zero-carbon energy system, through research and by offering expertise to public and private sector organisations. With a team of around 40 staff, their areas of focus include community energy, offshore renewables, energy storage and decarbonising heating.

The Art Lab programme was set up by Sophie Whinney, Senior Energy Analyst at Regen, and Emma Pavans de Ceccatty, a freelance producer. Sophie has a background in engineering design and leads on Regen’s work around just transition and retrofit. Emma has a background in both the renewables and cultural sectors, and was previously a member of the Regen team before becoming a freelancer

Regen staff who have collaborated on Regen Art Lab projects include Mark Howard, Local Energy Analyst; George Middlemiss, Project Manager: Zero Carbon Heat and the Built Environment; Ray Arrell, Associate Director and Prina Sumaria, Local and Community Energy Co-ordinator.

Stills from Hattie Collins’ film Disconnected Together.

Three artists have had residencies with Regen Art Lab so far:

• Karenza Sparks is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, animator and maker who worked on a project around decarbonising heat.
• Cameron Naylor is a sound and digital media artist working with sound and technology, who explored the themes of energy democracy, community energy and the power grid.
• Hattie Collins is a playwright, producer and theatre maker. Her residency involved work on the sustainable energy transition and rural transport, and was part of a broader project by Almanac Theatre.

Several interviewees also took part in and contributed material to Cameron and Hattie’s projects. These included researchers at various universities, staff at environmental charities and members of the public.

Funding

Regen is funded through membership fees and paid work for clients including national and local government, national agencies and energy networks. Artists were paid for their time on the residency and materials through internal funding, with additional funding sought from external sources:

• The 2021-22 residency was supported by the University of Plymouth: Sustainability Hub.
• The 2022-23 residency was entirely funded by Regen.
• The 2023-24 residency was funded by the Arts Council of England as part of a wider project with in-kind time contributed by Regen.

Relevant links

• Regen Art Lab Instagram
• Behind the scenes of SOUNDING CONNECTIONS: an audio collage of democracy and energy dialogues