Drawdown — Projecting Climate Solutions onto King's Lynn
- Ben Sheppee
- Nov 26, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: 19 hours ago
In the autumn of 2020, I was commissioned by Collusion — a Cambridge-based arts and technology organisation — to create a major new site-specific artwork for King's Lynn in Norfolk. The result was Drawdown: five large-scale building projections onto some of the town's most historic structures, each exploring how the effects of climate change can be reversed.
Finding the Subject
The commission came at a time when the pandemic had forced a collective pause. Lockdowns had reduced commuting, cleared skies, and made people suddenly aware of their immediate environment in ways they hadn't been before. There was a question in the air: could this interruption be the beginning of something more permanent?
The difficulty with climate change is that many of us have become desensitised to it and feel like we're being told off for the state of the planet. I wanted to take a different approach. I came across Drawdown, a comprehensive plan developed by an international coalition of researchers, scientists, and policymakers that ranks the top 100 ways to reverse climate change — with number one being the most effective at sequestering carbon from the environment.
Rather than emphasising the problems, I wanted to highlight the solutions and provide empowerment through awareness. I'd consider the works successful if they reinvigorated the public's interest in what can actually be done.
The Sites
The projections were mapped onto five buildings across King's Lynn: the Custom House, Greyfriars Tower, King's Lynn Minster, St Nicolas' Chapel, and the Tuesday Market Place. A sixth site — the Corn Exchange — was added during the run, its historical connection to the food industry making it a natural canvas for exploring how dietary choices and food waste reduction have far-reaching environmental consequences.
Each projection addressed specific solutions tailored to the locality — connecting global research to the lived experience of a Norfolk market town. The animations ran nightly from nightfall until 10pm, and visitors were encouraged to walk between the sites, discovering each projection in sequence.
Legacy
Drawdown was the first of four climate-related artworks in Collusion's GAME ON series, which aimed to establish King's Lynn as a national centre of excellence for cultural innovation in interactive, town-scale projection art. The work was relaunched in November 2021 to coincide with COP26, giving it a second life in the context of a global climate summit.
The project was supported by Arts Council England, the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, and the Audrey Muriel Stratford Trust. A series of limited edition prints were created from still images taken from the projected animations, which remain available through the Collect page.
