"Carbon and Digitalization" co-hosted with Beijing 798Cube, invites artists, social enterprises, professors, and pioneering brands from China and Switzerland to discuss the digitized form of carbon and its footprints from earth to sky, from carbon storage and capture, to weather modification technique.
Carbon is both the essence of life and energy, as well as a form of sediment; it embodies objective rationality while also entangling ambiguous power dynamics. It comprises concrete microstructures, yet it hides in abstract forms within the evolution of electricity-based computation. The digitization of carbon allows this medium, which spans various systems, to become measurable, traceable, and tradable. Our current challenge is to ask how, after converting ecological footprints into data or currency, we can use this machine-rooted computational control to speculate about a different future than the one we are currently investing in.

The film "Twenty-One Percent" by Ursula Biemann and Mo Diener, explores the relationship between human consciousness and the 21% oxygen in the air, emphasizing the close connection between chemical elements, the materiality of Earth, and human thought. Fragmentin's research use artificial intelligence to predict the future expansion of the water grid while examining the relationship between digitization and ecological protection. The social enterprise MyH2O emphasizes collaboration among villagers, youth, and government, stating that residents' understanding and willingness to act on water are foundational for governance, with digital monitoring complementing local experience. Through these data, stories from distant ice layers and the dilemmas of rural wells can enter our awareness, awakening thoughts and actions regarding the environment.

Meanwhile, Professor Guan Dabo from Tsinghua Institute of Carbon Neutrality uses powerful data coupling to illustrate the impact of climate change on global value chains, integrating carbon loops into the concept of "value chain." Janis Polar's work explore the environmental impacts of oil shale and rare earth mining, as well as their relationship with historical media technologies, showcasing the material extraction processes behind a green future. The artist collective Black Void presents the digital climate identities of global cities through data-generated art and the application of negative carbon materials, while also contemplating alternative post-carbon futures through design fiction. While curator Martina Huber speaks about art’s role on shaping our environmental future, whose work creatively bridge the ongoing ecological crisis and public awareness. Additionally, the workshop "Scents Extracted with Supercritical Carbon Dioxide — Climate Change and Scent Design" uses chemical particles in the air to precisely and sensibly awaken the public's olfactory memory of urban climate change.

"When we talk about post-carbon futures, does each region have a homogeneous post-carbon future? What is the relationship between the past of fossil energy and the post-carbon future? How do we incorporate geopolitical factors and local histories (such as colonial history, socialist construction history, and the processes of fossil energy modernity) into this discussion?

In the context of the climate crisis, energy transition, and low-carbon development, can we adopt an ecological perspective to revisit the history and culture of fossil energy? I seek to find the energy within fossil fuel extraction sites, viewing energy as an ethical relationship of mutual care and resonance rather than merely as a resource to be exploited."--- Mia, Yu. Art Historian, Curator, Artist, Educator.

"As artist and curator, our daily lives revolve around connecting art with society, politics, and the environment. We aim to enable everyday people to physically experience the links between art and these topics. In doing so, we can understand the power of these issues from multiple perspectives, envision a better future, and reflect on the rapid changes occurring in our current society."--- Martina Huber, Founder and Curator of Awareness in Art