Installation view, ‘Eduardo Chillida,’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2021 © Zabalaga Leku. San Sebastián, VEGAP (2023). Photo: Ken Adlard
New Exhibition Climate Impact Report
Our second Climate Impact Report for a gallery exhibition published with Artists Commit
‘Eduardo Chillida’ at our Somerset gallery in 2022, was the second in a series of Hauser & Wirth exhibitions to receive a carbon emissions calculation. The gallery team worked to produce an environmentally-conscious exhibition, developing an understanding of decision making involved in planning a show that took into account carbon emissions and waste.
Decisions about the lifecycle and longevity of the exhibition furniture and materials were considered during the exhibition planning phases, namely: for outdoor sculpture a reusable steel plate was transported from Spain to Somerset rather than fabricating a new concrete base, all plinths were fabricated locally and two of the eleven plinths fabricated are being reused and UV film remained on windows after the exhibition closed. Digital exhibition plans were reviewed and several iterations of the exhibition layout were considered prior to agreeing to shipping artworks. This led to a more specific and tailored artwork list that reduced the number of artworks that needed to be shipped.
The Climate Impact Report for the exhibition is published with Artists Commit, an artist-led collective committed to a climate-conscious, resilient, and equitable future.
Installation view, ‘Eduardo Chillida,’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2021 © Zabalaga Leku. San Sebastián, VEGAP (2023). Photo: Ken Adlard
Rendering used for planning installation at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2021
As one of the foremost Spanish sculptors of the twentieth century, Eduardo Chillida (1924 – 2002) is widely celebrated for his monumental public sculptures and enduring fascination with interconnected shape, space and organic form. The Hauser & Wirth exhibition invited new encounters between Chillida’s work and the unique environment of Somerset, drawing parallels with the artist’s own vision for Chillida Leku, a public museum and sculpture park created during his lifetime that expanded the relationship between art and nature.
In line with the Paris Climate Agreement of the United Nations, we are reducing our carbon emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030. Since making our commitment, we have reduced our emissions by 9 percent and continue to drive actions to accelerate meeting our target. Reductions are happening by switching to renewable energy, transitioning to LED lighting, purchasing electric vehicles and tracking carbon emissions and waste associated with our air freight.
Emissions by Scope. Calculations verified and audited by The Carbon Accounting Company
Emissions by Exhibition Activity. Calculations verified and audited by The Carbon Accounting Company
A breakdown of Exhibition Emissions. Calculations verified and audited by The Carbon Accounting Company
Calculating our emissions has been one of our first actions. Since 2019, we have measured our Scope 1 and 2 (energy and fuel) emissions and have recently calculated our Scope 3 (flights, freight and exhibition construction) emissions. To track and reduce emissions have introduced carbon budgets for exhibitions, identifying where we can make changes to increase our decarbonization efforts.
Our process is driven by a hierarchy of prevention, reduction and investment, using a metric-centric approach. To this end, we have enrolled in the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which will help us measure, track and monitor our reductions. We believe in transparency and share our carbon emissions as part of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) carbon reporting tool. We support the development of a meaningful and industry-specific response to the climate emergency and we have been patrons and members of the GCC since 2020.
Installation view, ‘Eduardo Chillida,’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2021 © Zabalaga Leku. San Sebastián, VEGAP (2023). Photo: Ken Adlard
Appointed in April 2021, our global Head of Environmental Sustainability, Cliodhna Murphy, oversees the implementation of the gallery’s measures to achieve our reduction targets. Murphy’s role is to drive the urgent actions to decarbonize and minimize waste in our daily operations. For broad sustainability measures, we are switching to renewable energy in all locations; transitioning to LED lighting; decarbonizing our energy in locations where we can control sources and lobbying our landlords to introduce more green energy into the buildings in which we operate.
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Read the Climate Impact Report (CIR) for the exhibition ‘Eduardo Chillida’ at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 26 Jun – 3 Jan 2022, published on the artist-led sustainability platform Artists Commit. Launched in November 2021, the CIR concept was created by Artists Commit. Written in November 2022, this is the second CIR published by Hauser & Wirth.
Learn more about our first CIR for the exhibition ‘Gustav Metzger’ at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2021.
We support barder.art, a peer-to-peer resource for sharing exhibition furniture, materials and packing materials. The aim is to reduce waste, recover valuable space, lower operating costs, foster industry connections, and invest in a circular economy. Our teams have posted items from our exhibitions that are available to collect from storage in London, New York and LA. Learn more here.
In 2022, ‘Sustainability In Action’ was hosted at Hauser & Wirth Somerset as part of our ongoing commitment to facilitating dialogue and disseminating information with the global art community.
