ETH Zurich, Zurich Switzerland, 26.09.2024 – 26.10.2024

About the project

As you breathe in and feel the air coursing down into your lungs, the origins of this air are often disregarded unless catastrophic events such as volcanic eruptions or radioactive fallout demand increased awareness. Through the calculation of air parcels from each exhibition space, the historical journey of every person's breath present is tracked and simultaneously constructed.

Khalil Berro proposes a novel world-view defined by the interconnectedness of all human and non-human entities through the medium of air. Viewing planet earth without borders, juxtaposing clearly defined city names with the absence of physical boundaries and the imagination of movement and connection. Just as the air serves as a conduit linking human lives and distant lands, hidden industrial landscapes are also physically linked to us – as proximate as they are distant, and as public as they are secret. The individual integrates into the collective mass of the atmosphere, within a particular moment and place. The concept of absolute independence is revealed as an illusion: everything is conditional on everything else, directly tying our actions to incomprehensible scales of climate consequences and fostering a collective sense of responsibility stemming from the reality of sharing one interconnected atmosphere.

This mixture of imagination and scientific data is fuelled by real-time calculations conducted by Dr. Michael Sprenger and Dr. Hanna Joos at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, led by Prof. Dr. Heini Wernli. Learn more about the science here. The results of these calculations, delineating the air’s journey, complete with city names and timestamps – are projected onto multiple facades across Europe. The scrolling text, reminiscent of stock tickers cascading across Wall Street skyscrapers, echoes the ambiance of high-stakes trading. This concept mirrors an earlier project, "Cloud Killer," which questioned the sanctity of natural elements typically deemed untouchable by capitalist frameworks. Air, clouds, and water are suggested as potential new commodities in a world driven by trade.

Participants come to understand that the air they breathe has recently passed through Canada’s burning forests, Greenland’s glaciers, or the Amazon Rainforest a mere two weeks prior. This realization transforms breathing into a conscious act, reshaping Western humanities' notions of reality and perception, and turning surrounding into incorporating.

Behind the science of BREATHE

Details & Material

Partners & Collaborators

2024
32000 Lumen projection 1 and 2 channel
LED-Screen video 1 channel
Varying length (daily calculations)

Size Zürich:
60m x 30m

Size Bolzano:
40m x 5m

ETH Zürich
D-USYS
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science
Group for Atmospheric Dynamics
NOI Techpark

3Khalil Berro Studio

khalilberrostudio@gmail.com
Zurich Bedretto Lenzburg
Switzerland

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