Francis Alÿs: Sustainability

In 2023 Barbican Art Gallery successfully qualified as an Active Member of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC). To achieve Active status we had to demonstrate that our organisation had implemented environmental sustainability best practice in line with GCC guidance. We have continued to prioritise best practice for this exhibition. We are tracking the carbon use across the project so that we can review ways to reduce this for future exhibitions and installations.

How have you minimised the environmental impact of the exhibition? 

• All new exhibition walls have been fabricated with repurposed materials from previous exhibitions and will be incorporated into the build for the autumn exhibition too, reducing impact of transport and sourcing new materials. Newly built benches will be stored and added to gallery stock for future exhibitions. Projection screens are flexible and can easily be adjustable and reused by the contractor for other projects and the tour to Serralves Museum. 
• We continue to use Little Greene as the main paint supplier, they rank high on sustainability, very low use of VOC (almost zero). 
• We are tracking the source of our materials to reduce impact where possible.
• As part of our tender process for an AV contractor we rated sustainability highly and expect all contractors to adhere to sustainable practices.
• Travel related to this project was limited to a curatorial/research trip to Mexico and the artist’s travel to film new works in London and join the installation.
• We have liaised closely with our transport agents to optimise arrangements, but this was also minimal (1 crate from Mexico) and we have planned for the show to tour to Portugal next. We have tracked all transport emissions so that we can work to reduce this for future shows. 
• We have also incorporated into our working practice the principles outlined in the Barbican International Enterprises (BIE) manifesto on sustainable exhibition making.