Marina Zurkow

“Climate communication: how to fight the doom we ignore”

Climoji is a collection of unconventional (non-unicode) emoji that describe the causes, symptoms, and potential ways to address climate change. Two sets—‘Disasters’ and ‘Resilience’— were created by Marina Zurkow and Viniyata Pany in 2017 and designed by Manuja Waldia and Anna Lin.

Emojis, while not a traditional language, act as a "visual language suitcase," encapsulating complex concepts like yoga and meditation, which are used to symbolize calm and self-awareness or even ironically to convey broader cultural meanings. Yet, representing immense issues like climate change challenges this system as Unicode prefers concise, non-political imagery, omitting broader environmental crises like biodiversity loss and ecological grief from the emoji lexicon.

Using emojis to convey environmental messages, such as the impact of gas-guzzling cars on climate change, can make these grave issues more accessible and relatable without diminishing their seriousness. Emojis provide a way to communicate these concerns in a succinct and engaging manner, helping to combat the fatigue associated with persistent negative news.

Despite the limitations within the official Unicode lexicon, alternative emoji expressions like the Climoji project have resonated with the public, with over 15,000 downloads for Android and iOS. These icons, featured in exhibitions and noticed by organizations like Greenpeace and the United Nations, highlight the potential of emojis to foster communication on critical global issues, even outside the conventional channels.

Marina Zurkow will present the Climoji work, methodology, and outputs. https://www.climoji.org/

Biography
Artist Marina Zurkow connects people to nature-culture tensions and environmental messes, using technologies to foster intimate multispecies and geophysical connections. Zurkow co-founded several initiatives, including We Have Questions (with Abigail Simon), Dear Climate (with Una Chaudhuri), More&More Futures (with Sarah Rothberg), and Climoji (with Viniyata Pany). Most recently, More&More Futures’ WHAT IF? was featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Climoji is presently part of ‘Give Me a Sign’ at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. She is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, represented by bitforms gallery, and resides in the Hudson Valley, New York.