“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
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.
Atmospheric Drawing 001
Detail of canvas
Video display and deflated 8ft weather balloon
Wind direction indication accurate to position of viewer in gallery

BTS image