“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?
Status: OPEN
ATMOSPHERIC DRAWING 003
34.502062° N, 116.945094° W
charcoal water on 40 acres of land
protocol:
Generated using a 350-gram white latex meteorological balloon with a burst diameter of 13.5 feet. and a 1-gallon capacity ballast container connected by polypropylene twine. The ballast perfectly counterbalances the weight of 126 cubic feet. of helium, allowing the weather balloon to hover at an altitude of 500 feet. A custom-engineered nozzle was 3D-printed and installed at the base of the ballast, providing a time release on a laminar flow of a natural charcoal-water solution. The device, once released, responded to the invisible movement of air that surrounds it, turning it into a pencil for the sky and drawing a record of the local atmosphere. Photography, video and GPS tools were used to track and measure the unique and irreproducible movements of air at sunrise on September 21, 2023 at 34.502062° N, 116.945094° W.
Derek Evans. Custom design of 3D printed nozzle used for distribution of charcoal-water solution.
ATMOSPHERIC DRAWING 002
34.0376406,-118.2341354
sumi ink on canvas, 5x5 ft., 3 panels
protocol:
Generated using a 16-inch black foil balloon filled with helium tied with a string and to a paintbrush, working as a counterweight, dipped in a sumi ink and water mixture, floating over a natural woven canvas lying on the floor between two people. The balloon was hovering freely, allowing the movement of air at breath-level to be drawn on the canvas by the dripping ink. The experiment was performed three times in one day under varying conditions: First, the two people were talking, laughing or staying silent across from the balloon; second, walking past the balloon or dancing around it in circles; and third, coercing the balloon to move. Based on the principle that our atmosphere is constantly receiving and releasing our every effort to communicate, the experiment is designed as an attempt to allow the invisible air that surrounds us to show itself as an active nonhuman participant in a dialogue between two people.
Listening to The Sky, an artist residency program hosted by Arts Letters and Numbers led by the Truant School, asked participants to explore and invent new ways of looking, listening or feeling the atmosphere above us, around us and within us. Together, we built low tech devices and tools that allow us to sense and interpret air, clouds, waves and particles through sound, image, touch and more.
