A vision of air
A vision of air
The invisibility of air means that it is it easy to for us to ignore. Yet in recent times it has moved from being a presence that we rarely have to think about, to becoming a fear-provoking and unquantifiable substance, containing diseases and pollutants that need to be filtered out or blown away in order to be made safe. How, then, do we deal with such an invisible yet explicitly material entity? How do we see it? This article explores some of the different ways that air is exposed and visualized, from early scientific experiments with air through to the material consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. It moves through various fields of research: science and technology, art practice, public health, and building design; taking us through the identification, conceptualization, measurement and datafication of air, as well as the actuality of our experience. Ultimately, it is argued that to have any hope of achieving clean air, we must first learn to work through its invisibility and understand its precarity, through the formation of a broad community of practice.
air, architecture, art, public health, visibility
Birkin, Jane
30ada6e1-9603-4a9c-9159-8297758817fe
Birkin, Jane
30ada6e1-9603-4a9c-9159-8297758817fe
Birkin, Jane
(2025)
A vision of air.
Cultural Politics.
(In Press)
Abstract
The invisibility of air means that it is it easy to for us to ignore. Yet in recent times it has moved from being a presence that we rarely have to think about, to becoming a fear-provoking and unquantifiable substance, containing diseases and pollutants that need to be filtered out or blown away in order to be made safe. How, then, do we deal with such an invisible yet explicitly material entity? How do we see it? This article explores some of the different ways that air is exposed and visualized, from early scientific experiments with air through to the material consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. It moves through various fields of research: science and technology, art practice, public health, and building design; taking us through the identification, conceptualization, measurement and datafication of air, as well as the actuality of our experience. Ultimately, it is argued that to have any hope of achieving clean air, we must first learn to work through its invisibility and understand its precarity, through the formation of a broad community of practice.
Text
JBirkin_Vision of Air-accepted
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Accepted/In Press date: 17 February 2025
Keywords:
air, architecture, art, public health, visibility
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 500274
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/500274
ISSN: 1743-2197
PURE UUID: d2f6a321-d2a6-4869-9004-300d8a4ca7b9
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Date deposited: 23 Apr 2025 16:49
Last modified: 24 Apr 2025 01:35
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