Contra and It’s Freezing in LA! are proud to announce the launch of Climate and Conflict, a new series of events inviting artists, scientists and environmentalists to unravel the difficult relationship between climate change and conflict. 

Through a programme of exhibitions, film screenings and conversations, we will explore ecosystems in the aftermath of conflict, and the future of migration in the wake of escalating ecological disasters. We’ll ask whether our relationship with nature has failed, and question how art, design and architecture can drive more environmentally conscious behaviour. 

We are excited to present the first event of this series on the 28 September at the Contra studio in North Greenwich. 

Following her September residency at the studio, we are proud to invite you to view a series of site-specific installations by artist Vinita Khanna on the theme of environmental destruction and human nature. In We Will be Forgotten, Khanna hopes to frame the rapidly changing environment seeded by human activity in the past centuries, and elucidate the fundamental misunderstanding of our relationship to the planet as a whole. 

This exhibition is an exploration of the astoundingly destructive systems and resulting landscapes of the 21st century through poetic and lyrical artwork. 

Join us from 4pm to visit the installations and enjoy sustainable food by Samambaia Project, drinks and music by Zmaraks, Barlic Gutter and fellow studio residents, BBZ.

At 5pm, Vinita Khanna and Yves Plancherel, a geochemist from the Grantham Institute, will be in conversation about their work and climate change.

Tickets: £10/12 - every ticket includes one free drink.

No one turned away due to lack of funds - please email hello@contrajournal.com for full concessions.

Venue is fully wheelchair accessible.

Gender neutral bathrooms available.

Please let us know if you have any other accessibility requirements or questions: hello@contrajournal.com.

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Khanna is a London-based artist whose work spans a range of disciplines, including sculpture, painting, installation, collage and photography. She has exhibited internationally since 1990. Notably at the United Nations in Geneva, the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, the Tate Modern, the V&A, the Royal Institute in London. Khanna’s work explores themes such as human perception, its confines and misconceptions, and the illusory nature of all that is visibly perceptible. She has collaborated with scientists and environmentalists to make work that confronts the accelerating ecological disasters we are faced with today.

‘As a scientifically led society, we are today more acutely aware of both our power and fragility as a species than ever before. Despite our dominance over all the other species and treating the Earth as real-estate, we seem to have become helpless in our interaction with the very marvels that we created for our benefit. These man-made phenomena now act as forces with a power of their own, in some cases threatening our very survival. 

Growth and efficiency is built into the fabric of nature and humans are compelled to follow this instinct as much as any other living creature or phenomena in nature. What is interesting however is our inability to halt the imperative of growth, despite our awareness of its destructive power. 

Nearly every industry that we have become dependent on to lead what is considered an ordinary life is contributing to the demolition of the ecosystem in some way. This invisible force has been let loose and any human response faced with the enormity of destruction seems almost hypocritical.

Ever since humans stepped on the planet, they have battled to hold on to, possess and solidify nature’s constant flux.'

Vinita Khanna

Poster Illustration by Nina Carter

Poster design by Our Place