The Climate Crisis is the biggest threat to life on this planet. But the general public is often paralyzed by dire projections, and individuals feel incapable of making meaningful change. Undercurrent challenges that inaction through artistic inspiration. We developed a culture-centered way into the conversation, working with contemporary musicians and installation artists to inspire a mindset shift in Gen Z and millennial audiences. Undercurrent featured 60,000 square feet of interactive, climate-focused installations from 11 musicians, each driving awareness to an environmental nonprofit partner.

The goal was to engage visitors around these massive themes, and to push them to take action through art. For each artist’s experience we collaboratively designed and built a bespoke installation and program around their message, using creative technologies, music and design. Our belief is that these immersive means of artistic expression are more impactful than simply reading cold statistics.

Our production was particularly innovative in its dedication to being carbon negative. We not only utilized recycled materials throughout our exhibition design, but partnered with Reverb.org to offset the 150% carbon emissions resulting from shipping, installation, food and beverage, and even each attendee’s visit to Undercurrent in Brooklyn, NY.

We partnered with international climate impact nonprofits Kiss The Ground, Ocean Conservancy, and Global Forest Generation, who each helped inform the artist installations and develop the Undercurrent message from the very beginning. They also were the beneficiaries of philanthropic donation, and extensive cause marketing through each of the artists’ platforms. This partnership structure allowed us to align Undercurrent with valued and reputable climate activists, and give visitors immediate calls to action and ways to make an impact right at the event.

After over three years of planning and development, Undercurrent opened its doors in Brooklyn, New York for the inaugural exhibition in September 2021. The immersive audiovisual experience featured over 60,000 square feet of interactive installations by some of today’s most exciting musicians including Bon Iver, Grimes, Jorja Smith, Khruangbin, Miguel, The 1975, Actress, Aluna, Jayda G, Mount Kimbie, and Nosaj Thing. Each installation was designed by the musician to inspire positive impact around the Climate Crisis and drive to one of our climate-focused nonprofit partners: Kiss The Ground, Ocean Conservancy, and Global Forest Generation. Over the course of its run, the exhibit drew thousands of visitors who left inspired to get involved in environmental activism.

The Climate Crisis is the biggest threat to life on this planet. But the general public is often paralyzed by dire projections, and feels incapable of making meaningful change. Undercurrent challenges that inaction through artistic and experiential inspiration. The experience was geared towards Gen Z and Millennial audiences that span music fans, art lovers, tech enthusiasts, and anyone who cares for the future of our planet.

Our approach was to collaborate with 11 musicians (and their creative teams) and three climate-focused nonprofits spread out around the world to create bespoke immersive installations that would engage visitors in multisensory ways. Undercurrent also spans both physical and digital spaces, making these Climate Crisis artworks accessible to a greater number of people.

Each installation was sustainably designed, built, and executed through collaboration between Undercurrent’s creative and production team, and the respective artist teams. The installations ranged in size from 10x10 sq ft to 30x30 sq ft, and leveraged the latest in creative technology from projection mapping, to spatialized audio, motion capture, and kinetic energy transmission.

Jorja Smith’s installation included hundreds of bottles collected from two beach cleanups, which were later redistributed to local community centers for monetization. Khruangbin’s installation featured a bike-powered hologram performance of their latest song. Miguel’s featured a bleached coral forest, sculpted using recycled plastic, and projection mapped upon when visitors triggered various motion capture cameras and spatial audio monitors. These are a few examples of the hyper-nuanced approach to each piece, and the critical considerations around their construction and design. The exhibition featured extensive narrative wayfinding designed with the intention of inspiring visitors along their exploration.

Undercurrent’s dedication to being not only carbon neutral but carbon negative also demonstrates our commitment to elevating conversations around the Climate Crisis without contributing to the issue ourselves.

Undercurrent drove $30,000 in donations to its core impact partners, and delivered on its mission to be carbon negative, offsetting over 150% of its emissions through a 800 Tonne carbon sequestration buyback. Similarly, Undercurrent helped divert 300 pounds of food from going to waste, and repurposed for the exhibition cafe. 14,740 plastic bottles were prevented from going to the landfill through use of washable / reusable cups and aluminum cans. Throughout the run in Fall 2021, Undercurrent’s social and impact campaign drove 1.06B earned media impressions which consisted of premier press articles, and influential changemakers and thought leaders posting positively about the program and validating the underlying model of art-for-impact.