ATMOSPHERIC DRAWING 001
42.60678° N, 73.56262° W

aviation weather reports at the time of this experiment:
KALB 091451Z 15006KT 10SM SCT016 BKN021 OVC250 27/22 A2985
KALB 091551Z 16006KT 10SM BKN021 BKN200 OVC250 28/22 A2984
KALB 091651Z 10005KT 10SM BKN023 BKN180 OVC250 29/22 A2981

contributing artists:
Farida Amar (lead), Melike Beleli, Maxim Bondu, Filipe Macia, Uri Wegman

protocol:
A 200g latex weather balloon filled with .9m3 of helium tied to a concrete brick with 100% polypropylene twine placed at the center of a 24 ft. square canvas floating on Burden Lake. An empty 16 oz. paper cup tied to the base of the balloon and filled with an ink-water solution. The balloon is released and allowed to move on its own in any direction. As the balloon responds to its atmosphere, the ink tracks its movement above the canvas through a calibrated leak installed in the base of the cup; generating the first atmospheric drawing of this series.

“We live immersed at the bottom of a sea of air.”
— Evangelista Torricelli

The air is a mostly invisible element and yet it is as real, active and busy as water. We often take it for granted because we have become desensitized to its normal range of movement; only stopping to notice if it yells with a gust of wind or cries with a storm. We often feel as if nothing is there, that the space between things is empty, a hollow, negative space. What would it look like for air to show itself? Can we ask it to appear? Yes, of course we can.

As a trained pilot, Farida Amar has built an intellectually and physically demanding collaborative relationship with the atmosphere. With this series, Farida constructs a way for the sky to reveal the movement of unseen forces and the profound impact that can wield upon our perception of the world. She asks, where are you now? Where do you wish to go? She visualizes and records atmospheric responses. She continues to wonder, how will this change in various geographic locations, elevations, altitudes, atmospheric conditions?