Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/03/2022 - 28/08/2022
10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location
Kunsthaus Wien
Categories
The exhibition When the Wind Blows is a cooperation with the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Air encloses the earth like a membrane. It is the medium of weather and the carrier of odours, sounds and aerosols that influence both climate and health. Air flows into our bodies with our first breath and with death we exhale our last breath. In the context of the current climate crisis, air pollution and storms as well as wind power as a renewable energy source play a role. The invisible element connects living beings, plants and places. The works of the selected international and Austrian artists of different generations aim to make this elementary, yet invisible element visually tangible. They deal with the most diverse aspects and meanings of air, wind and breath and examine their manifestations in ecology, science, politics, culture and mythology. From the life-giving air we breathe to the destructive power of the wind, art makes the great invisible visible in many different ways.
Emily Parsons-Lord installs a complex work that takes us on a journey through time. In The Confounding Leaving (2017) we can experience the individual physical sensations accompanying the intake of air. The composition of air on Earth changed over time: 300 million years ago, the oxygen content in the air was almost twice as high as it is today. At the end of the Paleozoic Era around 250 million years ago, more than ninety percent of Earth’s species became extinct, while the carbon dioxide content in the air increased. For her interactive installation, the artist has had air from different eras prepared according to special recipes. “Carboniferous air,” “Air of the Great Dying,” and “Future Air” can be tasted in the exhibition. What does air taste like? Are there different tastes of air? How is air changing through climate change, and how do we treat the air we need to live and survive?
Artists: Hoda Afshar, Bigert & Bergström, Julius von Bismarck, Olafur Eliasson, Karin Fisslthaler, Ana Grilc, Isabelle Ha Eav, Jana Hartmann, Ayumi Ishii, Sophie Jung, Sjoerd Knibbeler, Ulrike Königshofer, Eduardo Leal, Emily Parsons-Lord, Peter Piller, Werner Reiterer, Roman Signer, Lydia Simon, Ulay/Marina Abramović, Nadim Vardag, Niina Vatanen, Susan Walsh
Curators: Verena Kaspar-Eisert (KUNST HAUS WIEN) und Liddy Scheffknecht (University of Applied Arts Vienna)
Duration: 12.03.-28.08.22