Join us for the first of our Refractive Industry Sessions: Wednesday 2nd April 2025 at 1.30pm.

Discover practical ways to make your film and digital work more sustainable.

Our speakers for the afternoon session are Dan Bernard of Fast Familiar (Digital Story Studio) and Sarah Hamilton recently appointed Screen Sustainability Consultant, at Climate for Culture in Scotland who will talk about operating BAFTA Albert in Film Production (Bafta Albert is the official sustainability initiative for the Film and TV Industry).

In recent years artists, galleries cultural institutions have become increasingly interested in digital engagement and this was rapidly accelerated by the COVID 19 pandemic. At the same time, the cultural sector has become increasingly motivated to take action in response to the climate crisis. However, too little attention has been paid to the environmental impact of digital cultural production, perhaps because these impacts often seem to be invisible or to take place in another part of the world. In this talk we will explore the environmental impact of digital activities and discover a series of strategies that artists and cultural organisations can adopt to reduce their digital environmental impact.

Dan Bernard’s  talk will draw on a series of case study interviews with artists that Fast Familiar, Abandon Normal Devices and Arts Catalyst did as part of their project The Networked Condition, which was supported by Julies Bicycle and Arts Council England. It will also discuss the ways in which Fast Familiar have attempted to lower the impact of their own artistic practice and the tools they have created to help others do the same, which include a tool to measure the carbon footprint of digital cultural production and a free tool to help artists and small cultural organisations build low carbon websites.  The talk will also discuss the environmental impact that AI and cryptocurrency are having and consider what, if anything, artists can do about it.

Sara Hamilton will talk about the practicalities of Bafta Albert and the methodologies they offer:

• Want to make greener productions but don’t know where to begin? The Bafta Production Handbook is full of tips, advice and case studies from your peers to help you make sustainable changes to the way you work. Imagine walking on to location, silent except the sound of the crew. Imagine walking into the studio, lights ablaze but air fresh and cool. Imagine sitting in the production office, safe in the knowledge that the only impact of the activity co-ordinated is cultural. Imagine it, because it’s where we are heading – powered by the wind and the rays of the sun.
• Climate content – The screen industries have a crucial role to play in solving climate change. Reducing the footprint of productions is important. But, by far, the greatest opportunity to make an impact is through the content we put on screen.

About Dan Bernard

Dan Barnard is joint lead artist of Digital Story Studio Fast Familiar and a doctoral researcher in the Informatics Department at the University of Sussex. He is a member of the Association for Research in Interactive Digital Narratives (ARDIN).

Fast Familiar collaborated with Abandon Normal Devices and Arts Catalyst on The Networked Condition, a Julies Bicycle/Arts Council England Accellerator project which explored the environmental impact of digital cultural production through a series of artistic experiments, case study interviews and the creation of a carbon measuring tool focused on the digital elements of artistic projects. Fast Familiar have also created a tool to help artists build low carbon websites.

Fast Familiar’s recent work includes Looking for Love, which premiered at Science Gallery London as part of their: AI: Who’s Looking After Me? Exhibition The Acquisitions Panel, which received a Jury Special mention at Sheffield Doc Fest 2022 and won the Activist Museum Award, Do What You Must, which was selected to be part of the Official Cultural Programme at COP26 and The Evidence Chamber, which was described by the New York Times as “an especially successful way for theater to be enjoyed via a laptop.”

For a decade from 2014 to 2024, Dan was a Senior Lecturer at London South Bank University, where he taught Multimedia Performance and led the Digital Performance research group.