The British Antarctic Survey & Wayne Binitie
COP 26 - Polar Zero Exhibit
A 10-week collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey, Arup and artist Wayne Binitie, we set a strategy and designed a complex exhibition to highlight the effects and speed of climate change for COP 26 in Glasgow. The resulting exhibit was an immersive experiential environment for delegates, politicians and the general public to interact with during the course of the glboal UN climate conference.
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We worked in direct collaboration with the artist Wayne Binitie and the British Antarctic Survey - BAS. Over the space of 10 weeks we were able to design the user experience in the space, draw up concepts and plan production of an exhibition at the Glasgow Science Centre that was displayed as part of the green zone during COP 26 based around a loose impression of the artists vision. This, in turn required much strategic thinking to manage all partners on the project, a tight budget, a fabricator and an interdisciplinary design team to deliver a compelling and immersive exhibition for visitors.
The exhibition featured 2 elements, a melting polar ice core from BAS polar research that visitors could interact with, and a glass sculpture that housed a bubble of uncontaminated air, directly from the year 1765 that was extracted from polar research ice cores. I led a team of lighting, and acoustics designers alongside engineers to deliver the project in September 2021. The final design was fabircated and installed by the colaborative team at Millimetre in Brighton.
During the course of the conference, the work was featured in the Guardian, on the BBC and in Dezeen.
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The exhibition featured 2 elements, a melting polar ice core from BAS polar research that visitors could interact with, and a glass sculpture that housed a bubble of uncontaminated air, directly from the year 1765 that was extracted from polar research ice cores. I led a team of lighting, and acoustics designers alongside engineers to deliver the project in September 2021. The final design was fabircated and installed by the colaborative team at Millimetre in Brighton.
During the course of the conference, the work was featured in the Guardian, on the BBC and in Dezeen.
Peter D Webster — industrial designer, researcher and strategist — +44 7519 368 186 — pw@websterp.com — @weterpebster