Next Season: Art and science in the face of the climate future
The exhibition showcases works depicting climate change adaptation and mitigation developed by eight artists during residencies in some of the most important Costa Rican scientific centres.
The exhibition Next Season: Art and Science in the Face of the Climate Future kicked off on April 22 at the Costa Rican Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MADC, its Spanish acronym) in San Jose. Open to the public through June 19, the exhibition showcases works depicting climate change adaptation and mitigation developed by eight artists during residencies in some of the most important scientific centres in the Central America country.
Eight Costa Rican artists, selected in January through a public call, are exhibiting their climate crisis work developed during residencies in the scientific centres. From February to April, Elia Arce, Carlos Fernández, Esteban Hidalgo, Sara Mata, Rosella Matamoros, Óscar Ruiz Schmidt, Jonathan Torres, and Christian Wedel developed projects that combined their artistic research interests with climate crisis information and data.
Through their artwork, the artists pose urgent questions about the impact of climate change on various aspects of our lives, such as our interactions with ecosystems, in addition to proposing new dialogues between arts and science. With their cross-disciplinary approaches, the eight pieces exhibit different strategies to address the climate crisis, from direct confrontation to a thought-provoking poetic approach.
Watch the video on the Next Season project:
Undertaken by the Directorate of Climate Change of the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), in partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Next Season aims to explore the intersections of contemporary art research and the sciences in light of climate change along with the concepts of adaptation, mitigation, and climate action. This project is financed in part by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany via the NDC Partnership Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP).
Artists participating in the exhibition Next Season: Art and Science in the Face of the Climate Future (Photos: Pablo Cambronero)
Carlos Fernández/"Drawing links," created as part of his residency with the National Climate Change Metrics System (SINAMECC) and the Centre for Geophysical Research (CIGEFI).
Christian Wedel/"Tropical Futurology," created as part of his residency with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET).
Esteban Hidalgo/"Climate Approaches," created as part of his residency with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET).
Elia Arce/"Bodies of water” created as part of her residency with the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR).
Jonathan Torres/"New faunas. Resilience and adaptation," created as part of his residency with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET).
Sara Mata/"I also disappear when you can see me," created as part of her residency with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET).
Rosella Matamoros/"The embrace. Long before the death of the last tree . . . a forest has already disappeared," created as part of her residency with the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET).
Óscar Ruiz Schmidt/"Sargassum forest," created as part of his residency with the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR).
Upcoming events
IGF 22nd Annual General Meeting
The 22nd IGF AGM will be held under the theme of Trust in an Interdependent World: Advancing inclusion and resilience in mineral value chains.
2026 Investment Policy Forum
The 17th edition of IISD's Investment Policy Forum will take place from September 16 to 18, 2026, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Foundations of Debt Sustainability: A training course bridging theory and practice
This course equips participants to critically assess and restore sovereign debt sustainability, design and implement effective fiscal frameworks, and engage meaningfully with international financial institutions. It is offered in partnership by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF).
2026 Mining and Sustainability Forum of the Americas
The 2026 Mining and Sustainability Forum of the Americas takes place in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. The forum’s theme is Mining for Development: Value addition and industrial transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean.