Milano, October 2023

Whereas Humanity is facing one of its biggest challenge, artists have a role that is more important than ever to play in a society experiencing the first devastating consequences of the capitalocene. As masters of imagination, they have all the potential to shape and share visions of alternative futures. Our duty as part of the art system is not only to show artists that address the ecological crisis, but also to follow a sustainable approach throughout our whole activity's cycle.

Jardino is an agency with ambitious dreams and feet firmly grounded. Our aspiration is to shape a more sustainable world through the transformative power of art. We see art as a powerful and symbolic language capable of leaving a strong and lasting impact on a large audience. As architects of innovative solutions, we channel art's universal language to drive positive change within communities and territories that surround us. 

In response to the escalating ecological crisis, Jardino has strengthened its commitment to sustainability. It has formed partnerships with cultural organizations and companies to address environmental and social impact. Additionally, Jardino offers consulting services to assist companies in transitioning towards sustainability, utilizing art as a catalyst for change. 

The agency prioritizes coherence and impact, implementing eco-responsible practices at every level and focusing on projects that generate measurable benefits for the environment and society. To insure that the agency is sticking to its eco-sustainable philosophy, we have formed internally a Green Team composed of three members: Julia Rajacic, Cléo Letzkus-Mabille and Chiara Lorenzon.

Eco-sustainability is at the heart of our approach and is seamlessly integrated throughout all stages of the curation process, such as travel, shipping, exhibition staging, and material selection.

One of our first decisions has been to collaborate more widely with local artists. This enables us to considerably reduce emissions from travels and shipping. We realized that Milan attracted not only Italian artists, but also creatives from all over the world. 

Additionally, we put an emphasis on eco-sustainable travels. We have a flight-free policy, and avoid all traveling by flight. We extend this policy to all our partners while working with us.

Throughout all our process, we include a circular approach as often as possible. In this context, we have set up a recycling corner in the exhibition space, where artists can find materials and where we can reuse certain objects to stage exhibitions. We are also partnering with organizations, such as Spazio Meta, that provide the materials for our exhibitions from recycled sources. 

After the project MUSE - The Energy of Tomorrow in 2023, a collaboration with PPDS which gave rise to the world's first zero-energy digital art exhibition, as well as the creation of a new international sustainable development award, our ambition is now to build on this momentum by developing new large-scale projects. Our aim is to reach a wider audience and raise awareness of the climate emergency.

Through the MUSE Digital Art Award initiative, we introduced an innovative new tool to the art world and to digital artists around the globe: Philips Tableaux. The essence of this award was to provide the art community with a screen with very low energy consumption. Initially designed for exclusive commercial use, this display, based on ePaper technology, offers a viable alternative to NFT and video art, which are known for their high energy footprint.

Jardino is delighted to join the Gallery Climate Coalition and to continue focusing our efforts towards a sustainable approach. In particular, we will personally ensure that all our packaging materials are reusable or recyclable at the roadside by 2026, with a view to achieving zero waste operations by 2030. In addition, we will ensure that only low- or zero-emission vehicles are used for local deliveries by 2025. 

The measures we are taking to achieve these objectives are as follows:

• Continue to curate exhibitions following an eco-design approach and train two new curators in the practice of eco-curation ;
• Prioritize projects with important eco and social impact and partner only with institutions and companies that have a real will of transitioning ;
• Create partnerships with specialized sustainability agencies to strengthen our consultancy services with a more global vision. In this way, we can support our clients with this social and sustainable assessment process, making our approach deeper and more long-term ;
• Develop a network of like-minded curators in different countries ;
• Discussing alternatives to air freight with shippers; if it really isn't possible otherwise, offsetting emissions ; 
• Continue following a flight-free policy and make it easier for employees to cycle to work by providing bike storage space and joining cycle-to-work initiatives ;
• Provide a 50€ bonus for our staff to buy a bicycle.
• Talk to suppliers and service providers about their carbon footprint and look for opportunities to encourage them to take action or switch to other suppliers who will ;
• Systematize vegetarian food for the events we curate, as well as the meals we have at the agency ;
• Increasingly include scope 3 emissions in our Carbon calculation, such as the visitors’s travels ;
• Promote conscious digital communication (Use of Drive rather than sending heavy files, no voice messages, awareness of the weight of what we send to each other) ;

To take full responsibility for our emissions, we are also setting aside 50 euros per tonne of CO2e we emit in a Strategic Climate Fund, rather than buying carbon offsets. In line with the Gallery Climate Coalition's guidance, this money will be spent on measures to accelerate our emissions reductions and support frontline climate solutions around the world that are making a difference now. We will report on how we have spent this money at the end of each financial year.

We want to act in accordance with the principles of climate justice, recognizing the links between the climate crisis and other global injustices, as revealed by Gaia, a traveling exhibition curated by Julia Rajacic, Jardino's CEO, curated in 2016 as part of Cop21. We want our environmental actions to support - rather than undermine or ignore - the needs of people on the frontline of marginalization and injustice.

We have set these goals and we are taking action, knowing that we are not yet doing everything that needs to be done. We still have a lot to do and a lot to learn. We invite artists, the public and stakeholders to send us their comments on this environmental declaration, on the objectives and on the action plans.

Julia Rajacic

Curator & Art advisor

Founder of Jardino