It´s All In The Air Baby

Juli 18, 2020

What does air mean today? – IT’S ALL IN THE AIR…BABY!

Life-saving elixir or existential threat?

Due to current events, air once again plays a decisive Janus-faced role. Social distancing, isolation and the lack of ventilators illustrate the vital necessity of air. Air enjoys our attention and not only by calculating the molar mass. There are effects in air pollution. First pictures of the European Space Agency ESA show climate and air quality are improving. What does air mean for the organism? Air as medium, structure, volume…? These are central questions of my interdisciplinary approach to developing an installation in times of isolation.

You can see my artistic answers to these questions in the project room Norder147. This intervention is part of my research process „IT’S ALL IN THE AIR…BABY!“, which began in 2015.

I first encountered this theme at the Istanbul Design Biennale 2012, where I experienced the installation „In Love We Trash“ by the artists‘ collective „Basurama“. I was inspired by the following question: How can the viewer experience air as an installation, as an ephemeral sculpture or as a space-consuming work? In 2013 Christo showed his installation „Big AIR Package“ in the Gasometer in Oberhausen. He once again confronted me with air as a work of art. Christo already installed his first air sculpture „5,600 Cubic Meter Package“ in Kassel in 1968. His works, in addition to the works of Otto Piene („Luftarbeiten“) and the balloon installations of the artist Hans Hemmert, serve as an impulse for my project.

Within the framework of an „Artist in Residence“ programme at the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016 in the Flensburg project room Module 1, I developed the „IT’S All IN THE AIR…BABY! concept. Drafts of this work can be seen on my digital channels since 2015. The work in Norder147 is intended to give the viewer an awareness of a matter that we perceive too seldom and yet is omnipresent and vital.

Supporting media: Instagram Artist Live Sessions / Result documentation on digital channels / Artist Talk / IG Stories