Heidi Quante

Quante, Paris, 2015

Heidi Quante is an interdisciplinary artist who has been designing environmental and human rights public engagement initiatives since 2003. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Education

Quante attended the University of California, Berkeley and received a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and a Bachelor of Science in Ecology.^{[ citation needed ]}

Career

Her artwork is divided into two practices. One is personal, exploring her emotional and physical interactions with the changing environment. The other consciously engages the public in participatory artworks ranging in size from one on one personal interactions to large scale global participatory artworks. ^[4] Her artworks often address social and environmental issues like climate change.

Creative Catalysts

Quante founded Creative Catalysts in 2013. Creative Catalysts collaborates with experts from diverse disciplines: art, science, community organizing and multimedia to design new initiatives for social challenges including climate change. Their initiatives seek to raise awareness, inspire dialogue and spark action on pressing social and environmental issues.

ARTWORKS

High Water Line

Quante is the co director of High Water Line which supports individuals and communities at various levels to help them realize this innovative way of visualizing climate change. ^[5]

The Bureau of Linguistical Reality

In 2014 Quante Co-Created the social engagement artwork The Bureau of Linguistical Reality with fellow artist Alicia Escott. The Bureau of Linguistical Reality is an ongoing social engagement artwork that collaborates with the public to create new words for feelings and experiences people are having living through the Anthropocene. ^{[6] [7]}

WeAreWater

Since 2016, Quante has been exploring diverse water sources that she is connected to. Uba Seo, the first audio video artwork of WeAreWater, was Official Selection of the 2022 Wild and Scenic Film Festival. Meditations on a Glacier, an audio video artwork on the source of Quante's drinking water, premiered at Swissnex in San Francisco on April 2025 as part of the United Nations Year of the Glaciers. ^[8]

References

1. "Keynote: The American Association for the Advancement of Science and Bay Area Art and Science Interdisciplinary Collaborative Sessions June 14, 2015".
2. "On Becoming Earthlings: Dialogues & Exercises in Shrinking and Expanding the Human, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France, November 21, 2015".
3. "Future Conditional: Artists at COP21 by Arts Research Ctr". December 11, 2015.
4. "National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) sponsored Science in the Arts Symposium November 6, 2015".
5. "About – HighWaterLine" . Retrieved September 25, 2020.
6. "Why we need new words for life in the Anthropocene". www.bbc.com. January 26, 2023. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
7. "Can Better Words Lead to Better Climate Action?". Atmos. July 24, 2025. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
8. "Meditations on a Melting Glacier". Swissnex in San Francisco. Retrieved October 15, 2025.