Overview
The Canary Project produces art and media that deepen public understanding of human-induced climate change and energize commitment to solutions.
Originally founded in 2006 as a project to photograph landscapes throughout the world where scientists are studying the impacts of climate change, we have since supported diverse projects involving more than 30 artists, designers, writers, educators and scientists.
Our focus is on cultivating research-intensive projects that contribute to knowledge building and are able to communicate that knowledge in a way that both respects complexity and inspires respect for life.
We receive fiscal sponsorship from Media Collective, Inc., a 501(c)3 tax exempt corporation in the sate of New York. All donations to The Canary Project should be sent to Media Collective and are tax deductible. We are in the process of establishing our own independent 501(c)3 corporation.
Commissions, Collaborations, Exhibitions
Canary Project work is created by a variety of artists, thinkers and designers. We encourage collaborations. Once a year we will grant financial assistance to a research-based artist project. Amounts of the grant will vary by year and be announced each November. In 2010, we gave financial support to We Could Just Leave, a project by Amanda Burr in collaboration with Edward Morris.
Beyond these commissions, The Canary Project has a number of ongoing projects produced by its various artist members. When possible we look for opportunities to support these projects financially, with publicity and through active collaboration.
We make all work available for exhibition and also curate showings of Canary Project work.
Support for Educational Initiatives and Non-Profits
We waive any fees associated with the use of any Canary Project media, including photographs, sound recordings and video, to non-profits and other institutions working to educate the public on climate change, energy independence or ecology. Appropriate crediting and permission required.
Resources permitting, we partner with non-profits, particularly art and educational institutions, to develop projects, classes and presentations. Canary Project co-founders Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris also speak frequently on the topics of art and activism and communicating climate change.
Co-Founders & Directors
Edward Morris and Susannah Sayler.
Participating Artists & Designers
Paul Benney, Michael Bierut , Amanda Burr, Amy Burrell, John Caserta, Joshua Kit Clayton, Roger Cummings, Charles Goldman, Diego Gutierrez, Curtis Hamilton, Diane Hong, Marissa Jahn, Sameer Kapoor, Rey Kim, Jusarra Lee, Benoit Maubrey, Edward Morris, Eve Mosher, Annie Murdock, The NY Society for Acoustic Ecology, Orlando Palacios, Jon Santos, Susannah Sayler, Dmitri Siegel, Nancy Skolos, Sinclair Smith. See also the many designers involved in Green Patriot Posters.
Board of Advisors
Matt Burr, Chris Dierks, Craig Downs, Nathan F. Elbogen, Peter Goldmark, Gilonne D’Origny, Elena M. Paul, Amy Smith, Wendy Wheeler Smith.
Scientists, Consultants and Sources
General: William L. Fox, Elizabeth Kolbert, Ross Gelbspan
Antarctica: Robert Swan, polar explorer, Founder of 2041; Ali Criscitiello, MIT.
Big Sur, California: Stephen Davis, United States Forestry Service.
Bangladesh: A. Atiq Rahman & Shohol Pervez, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.
China: Qian Guanqiang & Dr. Dong Zhibao, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Qian Ye, UCAR; George Steinmetz, photographer; Mickey Glantz, NCAR.
Costa Rica: Dr. J Alan Pounds, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve; Patricia Ramirez, Agua y Clima.
Fairbanks, Alaska: Dr. Glenn Patrick Juday & Dr. Vladimir E. Romanovsky, University of Alaska.
Belize: Melanie McField, WWF; Marcelo Mammana, photographer; Ric Frazier, photographer; Dr. Richard B Aronson, Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
New Orleans & Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana: Francine Judd, Tulane University; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Niger: Maisharou Abdou, Niger Forestry Department; Boubacar Cisse & Marcos Montoiro, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification; M. Hassane Saley, National Council of the Environment for Sustainable Development; Mamadou Mamane, Secretary General, Ministry of the Environment; Dr. Chris Reij, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
NYC: Cynthia Rosenzweig & Radley Horton, Goddard Institute of Space Studies.
Ohio: David Beach, Green City Blue Lake.
Pasterze Glacier, Austria: Berhard Pitchler, Heilgenblut Tourism Office; Michael Avian, Graz University; Elrhadrt Trojer, Hotel Larchenhof; Ken Miller, editor.
Peru: Marco Zapata, IRENA-National Resources Institute; Cesar Portocarrero, Unidad de Glaciología y Recursos Hídricos; Anton Seimon, Wildlife Conservation Society; Henry Brecher & Bryan Mark, Ohio State University; Barbera Fraser, journalist; Dan Collyns, journalist.
The Netherlands: Tracy Metz, journalist; Dr. Henk Jan Verhagen, Delf University; Dr. Dirk Sijmons, Delft University & Harvard GSD; Armando Carbonell, Harvard GSD; Dr. Franz Vera, biologist; Marcel Stive & Maurits de Hoog, Delft University; Egon Baldal, Rijkswaterstaat Dienst Zeeland.
Umatilla National Park, Washington State: Tom Knappenberger, National Fire Services.
Venice, Italy: Jane Press de Mosto, writer,; Irina Marchesi & Damir Dijakovic, UNESCO; Marta Moretti, Centro Internazionale Citta d’Acqua; Monica Ambrosini, Consorzia Venezia Nuova; Paolo Canestrelli, Tide Monitoring and Forecast Centre of the City of Venice.
Canary UK
Nicole Newman.
Research & Content Development
Ryan Arruda, Ali Criscitiello, Julie Gawendo, Diego Guiterrez, Jesse Hoffman, Thomas Lee, Sarah Morris, Justin Nobel, Kyveli Vezani.
Interns and Volunteers
Melissa Allen, Megan Baker, Celia Ballou , Erica Corbo, Rachael Gardener, Maggie Herskovitz, Stephanie Hsiung, Lindsey Jacobson, Winnie Lee, Jillian McManemin, Lebohang Moore, Katie Noel, Michelle Riley, Colleen Schultz.
NEVADA MUSEUM OF ART, Reno NV, The Canary Project, 2012
COURTHOUSE GALLERIES, Portsmouth, VA, Currents: Art and the Environment, 2011
COMMUNITY FOLK ART CENTER, Syracuse, NY, YOU ARE HERE, 2011
EXIT ART, New York, NY, The Tragedy of Beauty, 2010
COOPER HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM, New York, NY, Why Design Now?, 2010
ILLGES GALLERY, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA, Double Blind, March 2010
HAGEDORN FOUNDATION GALLERY, Atlanta, GA, Earthworks, 2010
HEMPHILL GALLERY, Washington DC, Economy of Scale, 2009
SoFA GALLERY, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, The Canary Project Works on Climate Change: 2006-2009, 2009
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, Cambridge, MA, Landscape of Climate Change: photographs by Susannah Sayler, 2009 – ongoing
HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN, Cambridge, MA, Terminus, 2009
MINA DRESDEN GALLERY, San Francisco, CA, Green Sight + Sound, 2009
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, UK, Climate Change: Ecology, Media and the Arts, 2008
GENSLER, Washington DC, An Illuminated History of the Future, 2008-Ongoing
OLD AMERICAN CAN FACTORY, Brooklyn, NY, 40 – 73: Works at the Intersection of Art and Ecology, 2008
CARROLL SQUARE GALLERY, Washington DC, Aqueous, 2008
UC DAVIS, Davis, CA, Picturing Destruction: Views of Disaster through Photography, 2008
CLOUD SPACE, New York, NY (11 Little West 12th St.), The Unfaithful Servant,2008
SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK,Queens, NY, Waste Not, Want Not, 2008
WAVE HILL, Bronx, NY, Sound the Alarm: Landscapes in Distress, 2008
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, Cleveland, OH, The Canary Project, 2008
CLIFFORD GALLERY, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, The Canary Project, 2008
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, Chicago, IL, The Canary Project, 2008
NATIONAL ARTS CLUB, New York, NY, A History of the Future, 2007
CITY SOL, New York, NY, Albedo Cloud, 2007
SARAH MELTZER GALLERY, New York, NY, Increase Your Albedo!, 2007
DESERT LIVING CENTER, Springs Preserve, Las Vegas, NV, The Canary Project (A History of the Future), 2007-Ongoing
SANTA BARBARA CITY HALL, Santa Barbara, CA, The Landscape of Climate Change, 2007
SHEEHAN GALLERY, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, The Canary Project, 2007
ARTECH 2006, PonteVedra, Spain, ARTECH: Art, Technology, Science and Society, 2006
EVERSON MUSEUM OF ART, Syracuse, NY, The Canary Project, 2006
CRANE ARTS BUILDING, Philadelphia, PA, Dimensions of Change, 2006
DENVER MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Creative Acts that Matter Program, Denver, CO, This is What Global Warming Looks Like, 2006
COURTHOUSE GALLERIES, Portsmouth, VA
Currents: Art and the Environment, May 2011
NYU, New York, NY
Ideas in Action, February 2011
SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Disaster Proofing Symposium (panel), February 2011
PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY, Portland, OR
Green Patriot Posters, December 2010
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, Design Odyssey, Syracuse, NY
33 Provocations on Climate Change, October 2010
EXIT ART, New York, NY
SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics), July 2010
SENSE OF PLACE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Fear and the Culture and Planning, June, 2010
BOSTON SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS/AIA, Boston, MA
33 Provocations on Climate Change, May 2010
COLUMBUS STATE UNIVERSITY, Columbus, GA
33 Provocations on Climate Change, February 2010
KENYON COLLEGE, Gambier, OH
33 Provocations on Climate Change, October 2009
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, Bloomington, IN
33 Provocations on Climate Change, September 2009
ARSENAL CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Watertown, MA
Text and Context, April 2009
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
Panel – HighWaterLine: Visualizing Climate Change, March 2009
COLGATE UNIVERSITY,Center for Ethics and World Societies, Hamilton, NY
Communicating Climate Change November 2008
MIT, Writing Department
Hope and the Issue of Climate Change, November 2008
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
Climate Change and Healthy Neighborhood Design, October 2008
BENNINGTON COLLEGE,Bennington, VT
The Canary Project, April 2008
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN, Providence, RI
Make It Better, March 2008
COLGATE UNIVERSITY, Hamilton, NY
Art and Art History Lecture Series, January 2008
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY, New York, NY
Climate Change: Science, Culture and the Regional Response, January 2008
OPENHOUSE GALLERY (GOOD MAGAZINE), New York, NY
The Art of Climate Change. December 2007
BRITISH LIBRARY, London, UK
POLAR: Fieldwork & Archive Fever an Interdisciplinary Symposium, November 2007
CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL, Chicago, IL
Canary Project, November 2007
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, Chicago, IL
Canary Project,November 2007
OLD AMERICAN CAN FACTORY, New York, NY
HighWaterLine (Documentary Event), October 2007
NATIONAL ARTS CLUB, New York, NY
The Canary Project, September 2007
CITYSOL, New York, NY
Go Ahead and Touch It! July 2007
BROOKS SCHOOL, North Andover, MA
The Canary Project, May 2007
EVERSON MUSEUM OF ART, Syracuse, NY
Introduced The Canary Project, November 2006
ARTECH 2006, PonteVedra, Spain
The Canary Project, November 2006
DENVER MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Denver, CO
The Canary Project, July 2006
THE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL, New York, NY
The Canary Project, May 2006
The Guardian, Green Patriot Posters, January 25, 2011
Need to Know on PBS, ‘A History of the Future’: Capturing the world to come, January 24, 2011, by John A. Light
PBS News Hour – Art Beat, Green Patriots’ Get Straight to the Message with Enviro-Friendly Poster Art, January 6, 2011, by Katherine Stevens
Wired Magazine, Green Patriot Posters Reinvigorate Environmental Message, November 25, 2010, by Scott Thill
Design Observer, Destroy This Book, November 22, 2010 by Edward Morris and Dmitri Siegel
Metropolis, Patriot Acts, October 2010, by Michael Bierut
Design Observer, Hot Mountain, August 18, 2010
Teaching and Learning Magazine (Indiana University) Freeing the Canary, Fall/Winter 2009, by Erica Knudson
The Herald Tribune (Bloomington, IN), Museum Memo, August 25, 2009 by Megan Abajian
The Herald Tribune (Bloomington, IN) Art & Activism, 08.21.09
Brooklyn Rail, Walking the Edge of a Blade of Grass: Art and Activism of The Canary Project,
by Cora Fisher, 02.09
Etapes, ACTUS: Graphisme, 11.08 (vol. 162)
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s Public Art Hot Spots, Text by Steven Litt, 10.09.08
Vogue L’Uomo, The Creative Fight Vs. Global Warming, by Donato Ramani, 07/08. 08
Washington Post, Cool Views of Climate Change, by Jessica Dawson, 07.04.08
Nomenus Quarerly, www.nomenusquarterly.com, Summer Issue 2008 (4) by Peter Goldmark
New York Times, Nature’s Struggle to Survive, April 27, 2008 by Benjamin Genocchio
The Riverdale Press, A World in Distress: Wave Hill exhibit addresses global warming, March 6, 2008, by Kate McNeil
Good Magazine, Into the Coal Mine, by Adam Bright, 03/04.08
Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences, An Inconvenient Assessment, by Chris Mooney, photography by The Canary Project, 11/12.07
La Republica – D Lab, Clima/Canarini No Global, October 27, 2007
GOOD magazine, Thin Blue Line, Sept./Oct. 2007, by Meryl Rothstein
Plenty Magazine, Fast: Losing Our Shirts, by Justin Nobel, 08/09.07
Orion Magazine, This is Your Planet on Global Warming, 07/08.07
Time Out NY, Out There: A Street-Smart Guide to New York News and Newsmakers, 07.05-11.07
New York Times, The Handwriting on the Road: An Artist Draws the Flood Line, by Randy Kennedy, 06.16.07
Dam Magazine, Warning: Art! Arts in Climate Crisis, Text by Joni Taylor, 05/06.07
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Photographs Capture Cries from the Mine Shaft, by Maria P. Gonzalez, 01.25.07
South African Journal of Photography, Canary Project: Contested Space, 2006
Tokion Magazine, Run Off, by Edward Morris, 05/06.06
Polar Inertia, New Orleans: Disappearing City, 05/06.06 (www.polarinertia.com)
MU Magazine, Nueva Orleáns tras la furia de Katrina, 12.05
