Art and science initiative
June 5 – July 22, 2025 – Institut français Milano
Discover the online catalog
After Venice in 2023, New York and London in 2024, the photographic and scientific exhibition The Cooling Solution lands in Milan in summer 2025. Hosted by the Institut français Milano, it will be open to the public with free entry from June 5 to July 22, Monday to Friday, 10 AM–5 PM.
A photographic and scientific project, resulting from a collaboration between CMCC and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, it showcases global resilience to climate challenges and how different communities adapt to high heat and humidity in countries most affected by climate change.
The Cooling Solution is a scientific project that uses photography to investigate how people of different socioeconomic backgrounds around the world adapt to high temperatures and humidity in the context of climate change. Beginning with the title, the term solution is meant to call into question this adaptation paradigm. The project examines the phenomenon of the rising AC demand in its various facets, addressing its numerous shortcomings and drawbacks, as well as the reasons for its use, which are often related to the necessity of protecting the most fragile members of society from health hazards. According to the report of the International Energy Agency, “The Future of Cooling”, published in 2018, 10 new AC units will be sold every second for the next 30 years, bringing the number of installed cooling units worldwide to 5.6 billion by 2050.
The project combines scientific research, photography and infographics to investigate people’s experiences as they deal with thermal discomfort in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Italy. The goal is to use photography’s communicative power to make academic knowledge accessible to the wider public.
Photography by Gaia Squarci, research by the ENERGYA team, coordinated by Prof. Enrica De Cian of Fondazione CMCC and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, curated by Kublaiklan and project coordinated by Elementsix.
WEBSITE AND CATALOG
The content of the project The Cooling Solution is available in an extended version at thecoolingsolution.com
SPONSORS
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No 756194), and it was supported by the Fondazione CMCC and by Edison for the current exhibition in Milan. It is jointly organized by the Department of Economics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and THE NEW INSTITUTE Centre for Environmental Humanities.