From Domes To Directives: How Artistic R&D and Immersive Media Can Strengthen Environmental Knowledge and EU Policy

Abstract

Environmental science is entering an era of unprecedented observation. Satellites, acoustic sensors, environmental DNA, telemetry, imaging systems and artificial intelligence increasingly turn previously inaccessible phenomena into data. Yet more observation does not automatically produce shared knowledge or better decisions. Environmental information remains distributed across instruments, disciplines, databases and institutional mandates. This paper aims to map documented and prospective pathways across ecoacoustics sonification, Earth observation, participatory mapping, immersive simulation and digital twins. The claim is deliberately bounded: artistic practice does not replace scientific evidence or policy expertise, but can develop alternative sensing, representation and deliberation capabilities that can be tested.