Sweat the Small Stuff, a display of climate related artwork, launches at railway stations between Liverpool and Manchester on Saturday 1 April
Imagined by the 1.5 Degrees project team, Sweat the Small Stuff is a creative response to a warming world installed at railway stations along the 1830 Liverpool and Manchester line from Saturday 1 April until Sunday 14 May.
Scientists have been warning against the global temperature rise exceeding 1.5 degrees. At current warming levels, without drastic intervention, we are likely to reach this within the next 11 years. Sweat the Small Stuff invites us to consider how climate change might affect our communities, exploring how small changes can help us to collectively respond to this challenge. The display features an eclectic range of artworks from the 1.5 Degrees project team, which is made up of Liverpool John Moores University’s (LJMU) Graphic Design and Illustration students and staff, who joined Metal as artists-in-residence to explore how creative climate communication can inspire action on climate change.
The exhibited work includes; ‘Where do we go from here?’, artwork using railway imagery to depict 27 different green organisations seen along the Liverpool and Manchester railway line, created by students Owen Rutland and Alyssia Thorburn; ‘Eat the Seasons’, protest campaign posters raising awareness of how we can act on climate change by eating seasonal fruit and vegetables, by students Kira Whyte and Puja Varia; ‘Room with an Ocean View’, a series of posters presenting seaside holiday advertisements of a future Liverpool affected by rising sea levels, by student Harry Urand; ‘Small actions, brighter future’, an artwork exploring the idea that small changes in our daily lives can add up to a huge impact in our collective response to climate change, by student Ana Ortuño Floria; and ‘Weather Warning’, platform shelters which give a changed perspective to familiar surroundings, by providing a weather forecast, inviting us to explore climate extremes made more likely through climate change, by lecturer Chris Jackson.
The installation will be in stations along the old 1830 line and Old Cheshire Lines railways to Manchester (Huyton, Roby, Eccles, Patricroft, Irlam and Urmston). It is also the first project of a new Community Rail Partnership which is connecting the various Friends Of groups at these stations.
Metal’s base at Edge Hill Station is a site with a rich history of innovation and creativity. It is the first stop on the 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway, where George Stephenson’s Rocket ushered in a new age of passenger rail travel. The site was at the heart of the rapid expansion of industry. Edge Hill Station pioneered rail innovation, which acted as a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution, a moment that rooted our reliance on the consumption of fossil fuels.
Facing the environmental impact of this expansion and overconsumption, the 1.5 Degrees project team have explored and responded to the station’s history, looking ahead to how innovation, creativity and creative climate communication might galvanise urgent action in the face of climate change.
The 1.5 Degrees project team also developed a website for Sweat the Small Stuff, to run in parallel to the exhibition. With sustainability at the heart of the design, the website has a low power mode which allows energy to be saved.
The artwork will launch from railway stations between Liverpool and Manchester on Saturday 1 April.
“Working together with Metal on this project has provided a significant opportunity for the students to respond to incredibly important subject matter, producing work which engages with the public in a real-world setting. It’s been a hugely valuable and worthwhile experience for the whole team.” – Chris Jackson, Senior Lecturer for Graphic Design and Illustration at Liverpool John Moores University
“Community rail partnerships are the backbone of the community rail movement, bringing together local groups and partners along railway lines to work with industry and also delivering a range of community engagement and promotional activities. The Liverpool and Manchester
Community Rail Partnership covers both railway routes between the great northern cities of Liverpool and Manchester – the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway line (the World’s first ‘modern’ railway opened in 1830 – and the Cheshire Lines Committee route – serving the important town of Warrington. Overshadowing railways, our Regional economy and ALL of our lives is climate change. The 1.5 Degrees project – led by Metal and generously supported by Women in Community Rail – is a superb project.” – Roy Chapman, Chair of the Community Rail Partnership
“The students have done a fantastic job creating thought-provoking work with a playful element which we hope all rail passengers travelling between Liverpool and Manchester will appreciate.” – Jen Porter, Interim Director at Metal Liverpool