Artist at Summer Davos: Turning climate data into public emotion

Thijs Biersteker is a Dutch ecological artist known for turning environmental data into immersive art. His work "Fungal Faculty" is featured at the World Economic Forum's 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025, commonly known as the Summer Davos Forum, taking place from June 24 to 26 in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

Biersteker's art focuses on making complex scientific data emotionally accessible to the public. 

"Most important [thing] right now in the world is there's a lot of data on how the environment is doing. There's a lot of solutions, but people do not understand what's happening and also what the data means," he said in an interview with CGTN on Monday. "So what I do is I bring alive the data into these sculptures that make people feel the data."

This year's Summer Davos highlights green development and sustainable futures, themes that resonate deeply with Biersteker's work. 

"I think it's our job as artists to make a movement, make people understand what's happening to our planet, and we can speak to the imagination," said the artist who has collaborated with global organizations including UNESCO and WHO. 

"Because we don't live in a science-driven society, we live in an emotional-driven society... if you combine the facts and the emotions, then you can create the climate action that we need right now."

Biersteker also explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping art. His piece "Fungal Faculty" questions whether we are in control of AI or controlled by it. 

"To me, technology is like paint. You use it to make your message clear, but you shouldn't use it out of laziness... AI will speed up the creativity of humankind quickly," he said.

Asked about China's green transition, Biersteker praised the country's rapid shift to sustainable energy and agriculture. 

"Bring that alive would be a beautiful challenge," he said. "China and the Netherlands both focus on sustainable farming and food security. Putting emphasis on that, and building works that speak to the imagination, how fragile or helpful it can be, that would be something I would love to do."

Through emotional storytelling powered by data and technology, Biersteker aims to make climate change not just understood, but felt.

(Cover image by Du Chenxin)