Walking into an art museum this summer might not come with the arctic blast of air conditioning you're used to feeling — all in the name of environmental consciousness. The Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles will be among the institutions taking part in the Climate Impact Program launched through PST Art, the Getty's arts initiative formerly known as Pacific Standard Time.
in downtown L.A., baseline emissions are equivalent to the energy use of 20 homes, per the museum's 2023 sustainability report. With a new energy management system to control HVAC systems, the museum could cut energy usage by 25%. The Hammer will pilot the expanded temperature and humidity ranges in the PST exhibition “Breath: Toward Climate and Social Justice,” which opens in late summer and will feature the work of more than 20 commissioned artists.
also will be experimenting with its energy use beyond the installation of its new HVAC systems. In its PST Art exhibition, a new site-specific installation by artist Olafur Eliasson at the museum's Geffen Contemporary space in Little Tokyo, the museum is expanding its range to plus or minus 5 degrees from a set point of 70. This range is in alignment with guidelines in protocols from the Bizot group, which consists of leaders from some of the world’s largest museums and art institutions.
, said the museum was eager to respond to the “urgent” call for museums to adopt environmentally sustainable approaches. “It's difficult for any institution to be the first,” Shell said. “This is an example where the Climate Impact Program and the discussions with colleagues that have come from that have allowed more institutions to feel safer in making those choices together.”
and the Hammer are in the company of dozens of institutions taking part in PST Art, which will launch in September with the theme “Art and Science Collide.” Once the Getty decided on the theme and began discussions with art and science institutions across Southern California about two years ago, an overwhelming number of them wanted to tackle the climate crisis, according to Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation.