Faces and Threads grows out of research on how climate change is debated, and fought over, on social media. It considers who gets to take part in that debate, and who is shut out of it or targeted within it. Rather than keeping that research within academic publications, the project took it into workshops with residents of Beeston (Leeds) and Longsight (Manchester), communities with direct experience of being talked over, or talked about, in online climate discourse.
The project is led by Dr Lone Sorensen (School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds), in collaboration with artist Parham Ghalamdar and curator Chris Bailkoski of Proforma, working alongside two community art spaces: Longsight Art Space in Manchester and Basement Arts Project in Leeds.
Working with artist Parham Ghalamdar, participants responded visually to real social media content about climate change, drawing on tarot as a framework for thinking about power, judgement, and who holds it. The resulting collective artwork is a tarot-inspired installation - a set of large-scale cards - built from what participants actually said, made, and felt in the workshops.
"With art, you're creating things that you're trying to make sense of." - Workshop participant, Longsight
"With the climate debate, it's ownership of who gets to speak about it… This is why these workshops are so meaningful. Everyone has a story to tell." - Workshop participant, Beeston
"When you're just in it you think it's real. But when you're dealing with it like this [through art], you put it in its box." - Workshop participant, Beeston
Between July and September 2026, the installation is shown at four venues across Leeds and Manchester, each paired with a different cultural programme:
Thursday 9 July 2026, 5.30–8.00pm Corner Pocket Sculpture Park (outdoor), Burton Terrace, Beeston, Leeds. With live music from Rick Holland & FURU
Friday 10 July 2026, 6.00–8.00pm Longsight Art Space (indoor), 89 Northmoor Rd, Manchester M12 5RT. With a screening of five art films on truth, memory and platform media
Friday 24 July 2026, 6.00–8.00pm Longsight Orchard (outdoor), Longsight, Manchester. With climate cabaret from Fossilheads
Tuesday 1 September 2026, 5.30–8.00pm Basement Arts Project (indoor), 28 Back Burton Terrace, Beeston, Leeds LS11 5JH. With a screening of five art films on truth, memory and platform media
All events are free and open to all.
Both film-screening events present the same programme of five moving-image works exploring how truth is shaped by memory, landscape, broadcast media, and online platforms:
Memory Stone — Nikta Mohammadi (2024, 20 min). Migration, folklore, and mourning traced in the West Yorkshire moors.
Thought Broadcasting — Nick Jordan (2017, 18 min). Transmission, surveillance, and the fear that private thought has become public signal.
Truth Performed / Truth Disrupted — Parham Ghalamdar & Dr Lone Sorensen (2026, 5 min). Climate misinformation and political performance through synthetic voices, archival footage, and AI images.
PalCoreCore — Dana Dawud (2023/24, 5 min). Internet-circulated Palestinian images turned into an act of witnessing.
Welcome to the Platform Era — a n t i m e m o r i a (2026, 4 min). The charged visual logic of platform culture.
Artist, Parham Ghalamdar: ghalamdar.com
Curator, Chris Bailkoski, Proforma: proforma.org.uk
Longsight Art Space, Manchester: longsightartspace.org.uk
Basement Arts Project, Leeds: basementartsproject.com
Faces and Threads is funded by the University of Leeds Cultural Institute and the School of Media and Communication. It builds on the AHRC-funded research project Mediated Climate Change Politics (PI: Dr Lone Sorensen), which examines social media influencers and climate policy debate.
Duration: 12 months, 2025–2026
Tel: +44 113 343 6319 Email: L.N.Sorensen@Leeds.ac.uk