Environmental sustainability has become one of the defining challenges facing both the art world and the luxury sector. As global awareness of climate change, resource scarcity, and ethical production grows, the traditional structures of art and luxury organisations are being re-examined and reshaped. Businesses, institutions, artists, and luxury brands are navigating how to balance environmental responsibilities with market demands, and evolving consumer expectations.
Building on the growing momentum across the creative and luxury industries, this one-day conference invites critical engagement with the challenges, contradictions, and opportunities that sustainability presents to these sectors. It seeks to highlight real-world action, interrogate barriers to meaningful change, and explore how existing models must evolve—or be replaced—to meet the demands of a carbon-constrained and ethically complex future.
PROGRAMME
9:45 – 10:00: Introductions
10:00 – 11:15: Session 1
Frameworks for Social and Environmental Sustainability in Art and Luxury
Chandni Jeswani, Alserkal Arts Foundation — Towards a Framework for Social Sustainability in Art and Luxury
Virginia Marano, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut — Designing Access: Disability as a Blueprint for Sustainable Transition in Art and Luxury
Amy Jackson, Artist — Embedded Externalities: Rethinking the Value of Art through Climate Accountability
11:15 – 11:30: Q&A for Session 1
11:30 – 12:00: Coffee Break
12:00 -13:15: Session 2
Institutions in Transition: Museums, Conservation and Sustainable Practices
Melissa Painter, V&A — Creating a Family of Sustainable Museums
Jürgen Huber, The Wallace Collection — Conservation’s Role in a Sustainable Future
Lorraine Finch, Independent Conservator — Preserving Masterpieces and the Planet: Conservators at theIntersection of Art and Sustainability
13:15 – 13:30: Q&A for Session 2
13:30 – 14:30: Lunch (not provided)
14:30 – 15:45: Session 3
Craft, Artisanship and the Sustainable Future of Luxury Industries
Amruta Rawate Patil, Independent Scholar — True Luxury, False Sustainability: Legal Silences in the Extraction of Artisanal Knowledge
Jacqueline Farrell & Sydney Ayers Mercer, The King’s Foundation — A Blueprint for Sustainable Luxury Fashion
Perrine Desmichel, ESCP Business School, Paris — Sleeping Beauties: When and Why Do Consumers Underuse Luxury Inherited Goods?
15:45 – 16:00 : Q&A for Session 3
16:00 – 16:30: Tea Break
16:30 – 17:30 Session 4
Panel Discussion: From Challenges to Opportunities: Reflections on Sustainability in the Art World
Elise Foster Vander Elst, Head of Exhibitions & Environmental Impact Lead, Design Museum
Cliodhna Murphy, Global Head of Environmental Sustainability, Hauser & Wirth
Caitlin Southwick, Founder and Executive Director, Ki Culture
17:30 – 19:00: Drinks Reception
