firecult - wildfire resilient cultural heritage

FIRECULT (Wildfire Resilient Cultural Heritage) is a new international collaborative research project that examines the relationship between wildfires, community and cultural heritage, delivered by Imperial College London, Newcastle University, The Maltings (Berwick) Trust and partners. The project is now looking to appoint three artists who will be working in three of the case study areas (Ireland, Turkey and Italy) to explore the relationship between wildfires, community, and cultural heritage through artistic research, engagement and activity.

FIRECULT operates at both global and local scales. Globally, the project will assess the cross-border, biome-level effects of climate-induced wildfire regime change on heritage, assessing the risk of fire to ways of life, landscapes, and landmarks. Local analysis will take place in case study sites of heritage-rich landscapes in Ireland, Turkey, Kenya and Italy, purposefully selected to represent a range of biomes, levels of current and projected fire risk, and traditions of land use management.

The research commissions are located in the following locations:

• Ireland (The Wicklow Mountains, south of Dublin), January – March 2025

• Turkey (Kozak Plain Region in Izmir), April – June 2025

• Italy (Natural Reserve ‘Monte Pellegrino e Parco della Favorita’ in Palermo), September – November 2026