PRESS RELEASE
DATE: APRIL 6, 2021
ART RESIDENCY USING MATERIALS MADE FROM CAPTURED CARBON
FIRST of its kind, Expedition Air, offers an Artist in Residence program dedicated to helping artists create pieces that integrate materials made from captured carbon emissions.
Each year, 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere. Each day, we get closer to hitting the point where the impacts of climate change are irreversible. There is an urgent need to raise awareness of innovative climate solutions.
Expedition Air’s parent company, Carbon Upcycling Technologies (CUT), is a Calgary-based carbon utilization company and a top 10 finalist in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE and a winner of the 2019 76West Competition. Carbon Upcycling Technologies started developing consumer products made from its carbon-derived materials in 2019, and in 2021, it decided to launch Expedition Air, as its consumer-facing brand.
Expedition Air’s mission is to create differently using carbon emissions. Its Artist in Residence program makes low-carbon materials accessible, allowing artists to integrate captured carbon materials into their pieces and enforce the need for art that makes the planet cleaner and safer.
Expedition Air believes that art is an effective way of mobilizing action for some of the world’s most complex issues. Climate change being one of the world's most pressing problems, art can create an emotional connection that prompts climate action.
Madison Savilow, Venture Lead for Expedition Air, says that “art has the power to connect people across the world by overcoming geographic, cultural, and linguistic bounds. That’s why we created a residency to facilitate artists’ use of materials made from CO2.”
Expedition Air’s goal with its Artist in Residence program is to demonstrate that material made from captured carbon emissions can be used in art that educates the public about the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage industry (CCUS).
Expedition Air is now recruiting a cohort of artists for its second annual Artist in Residence program. An artist residency is an opportunity provided by a host organization that enables a guest artist to work in a new environment or with new materials. Artist residencies provide the time and space for a guest artist to develop work and creatively explore new ideas.
2020 Artist in Residence, Annalee Levin, started her own business called Captured Carbon Studio. Her products and art are also featured on the Expedition Air website.
Levin describes her time as the Artist of Residence: “It was a dream to work with Expedition Air and use Carbon Upcycling Technologies’ materials in this project. My goal with Captured Carbon Studio has been to create artwork and consumer products to help educate the general public about carbon capture and the ways in which upcycled CO2 emissions can be used for our benefit. Two of my products, a set of crayons and a palette of watercolors, were designed to excite the imagination of the user by giving them the direct experience of creating something artistic out of CO2."
Expedition Air offers sponsorship in the form of CUT material, technical assistance, and business development support. The artist will have access to a showcase space at the Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre. The artist fully owns the pieces created during the Artist in Residence program.
In addition to the Artist in Residence program, Expedition Air supports other artist collaborations. Luis Merchan who developed a paint made from captured carbon emissions. He then creates paintings in negative color, which need to be viewed with an app to change the image to positive color.
The residency is for visual artists with a passion for new material exploration. Applications open on April 6th and close on April 30th, 2021. For artists interested in collaborations beyond the program, Expedition Air is open to partnership proposals. For more information, visit www.expeditionair.today.
ENDS
For media enquiries, contact Madison Savilow, Expedition Air, madison@expeditionair.today, (403) 862-3712
Expedition Air can be found on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter
Carbon Upcycling Technologies (“CUT”) was formed to use the pollution of today to build the materials of tomorrow by converting CO2 gas into solid products. CUT sells advanced solid products derived from greenhouse emissions and cheaply available solids. Since 2014, CUT has scaled its ability to capture CO2 emissions from point sources, such as power plants, by over a million times. Through its portfolio of CO2-derived solid nanoparticles, CUT has technically validated its solutions for use in the plastics, coatings, epoxy, adhesives, concrete, lithium-ion battery, pharmaceutical industries, and consumer products.
The NRG Cosia Carbon XPRIZE is a $20M prize in which competitors develop breakthrough technologies to convert CO₂ emissions into usable products.
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