In August 2024, PNNL convened Advancing Energy Futures Through Art, a two-day workshop at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. The workshop was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetics Office (H2O) and focused on the role of art in advancing energy research, innovation, communication, and public engagement. 

More than 50 participants from the arts and sciences came together for plenary discussions, panels, breakout sessions, an art showcase, and examples of energy futures work related to marine energy, geothermal energy, and the electric grid. 

The workshop also examined Artist-in-Residence programs as one model for connecting public interest research, artistic engagement, and energy futures. 

Workshop Themes

The workshop centered on three questions about the role art can play in energy research.

1. Improving Energy Research and Innovation

Science often inspires art, but the workshop also asked how art might change scientific research. Participants explored how artists, artistic methods, and creative practices could support innovation, new perspectives, new methods, and fresh visions for energy futures. 

2. Creating Space for Complex Socio-Technical Challenges

Energy futures involve technical systems, social choices, environmental questions, and public trust. The workshop explored how art can help address information and technical asymmetry, invite collective understanding, and create new ways to engage with complex challenges such as technology adoption. 

3. Communicating Energy Science

Scientific discovery is often communicated through technical papers written for expert audiences. The workshop considered how art can break down barriers, communicate research and outcomes to wider audiences, and create meaningful engagement beyond traditional scientific formats. 

Key Takeaways

• Art can make the invisible visible.
  Many art-science collaborations focus on systems beyond everyday human perception, including oceans, ocean technologies, and virtual power systems. Art can help make those systems more tangible. 
• More spaces are needed.
  Participants identified a need for physical and creative spaces where artists and researchers can collaborate, co-create, use shared tools, and build relationships. 
• Process matters.
  The artistic process can be as valuable as the finished artwork. Like the scientific process, the exploration, connections, and discoveries that happen along the way can create opportunities for future work. 
• Metrics can help demonstrate value.
  Participants discussed the need for credible case studies, best practices, metrics, and other ways to demonstrate progress and success in art-science collaborations. 

What Came Next

One next step from the workshop was a 2025 Artist-in-Residence pilot sponsored by DOE’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetics Office (H2O). 

Artist-in-Residence programs often include an exploratory phase, where artists engage with scientists and research settings, followed by a project development phase that may culminate in an exhibit, portfolio, workshop, lecture, or public discussion. 

PNNL’s pilot became the Artist-in-Residence program with textile artist Lindsay Olson, whose hydropower project, From Flow to Power: The Art of Hydropower, explores water, energy, infrastructure, and fish passage through textile art.