“Weather Engines”: The new exhibition for the environment on the Roof and at the National Observatory of Athens

by

What climate do we want to live in? If the weather is affected by humans, how “natural” is it after all? Can weather be man-made? From April 1, at Roof and to National Observatory of Athensthe weather invades with speeches, workshops, performances and a large art exhibition with audio and video installations, sculptures, films and 3D printing objects, with reference to the climate crisis, exploitation and the need to deal with severe weather.

In the Weather Engines of the Onassis Foundation, from April 1st to May 15th, 2022, the weather is coming to the fore, urging us to reflect on the poetry, policies and technology of the environment. Renowned and up-and-coming, international and Greek artists participate with their works, many of which are presented for the first time in this exhibition, curated by Daphne Dragon and his Jussi Parikka.

Seed bombings, a living mushroom sculpture, the thermopolics around the temperature, a wild garden on Mars, the weather cycle through the Mοori world, a famous alpine glacier, corals bathed in blue light, pollen grains, water of the Aztecs, the Colombian lands of the Amazon, the policies of the cold, the dragonflies in the various ecosystems, the sound of the oceans, are just some of the -not necessary- natural phenomena, events and issues that the public will be confronted with.

The exhibition and the program of lectures, performances and workshops on the Roof of the Onassis Foundation and at National Observatory of Athens they approach time as a complex system, as an object of observation and control, as well as as an experienced experience. The projects and events refer to natural phenomena and climate change, to old and modern strategies of weather engineering, as well as to different socio-political atmospheres that we breathe and experience. By approaching the models and systems of art as techniques of knowledge, “Weather Engines” addresses the need for climate justice and the embrace of more than human worlds.

“The Weather Engines exhibition explores the poetry, policies and technologies of the environment, from the ground to the sky and from the soil to the atmosphere,” the exhibition’s curators note. Dragon Laurel and Jussi Parikka.

“Weather can be described as a dynamic system determined by wind speed, temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity and affecting human and non-human worlds. It changes from moment to moment and differs from place to place, while its prediction is considered necessary to control its consequences. Weather observation is now associated with attempts to modify it. Examples are relative military operations of the past or modern technological approaches aimed at mitigating climate change. The weather, however, is more than meteorological data. It can also refer to different atmospheres, metaphorical or political, related to breathing and life itself.

The Weather Engines exhibition presents works that ask questions about weather, the environment and technological culture. Facilities, photographs, videos, sound works and sculptures are based on the climate crisis and examine the elements that affect life. Heat and cold, wind and rain are discussed in relation to different geographical and political contexts, from the past to the present and to the ecological future. The oceans, clouds and forests are recognized as life-saving machines, they create the atmosphere we live in and we influence. References to meteorological instruments but also to natural biomarkers demonstrate how the weather is recorded and studied. Other projects look at examples of exploitation or armaments of severe or extreme weather events.

The works describe an environmental aesthetic that also concerns climate justice. The exhibition brings to the surface the controversies involved in the description, experience and resistance of colonial times and atmospheres. At a time when time is defined by human change, every weather is artificial. “But if the weather is really created, then it means that there is still the possibility to fight for the weather and the climate we want to have in our lives,” they say.

The exhibition is framed by its publication Onassis Foundation “Words of Weather: A glossary “/” Words for the weather: A glossary “, which maps terms for a political ecology of experience and is available in selected bookstores in Greek and English edited by Jussi Parikka and Daphne Dragon and designed by Typical Organization.

Artists participating in the exhibition:

Kat Austen, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Πάκυ Βλασσοπούλου, Felipe Castelblanco, Kent Chan, Coti K., DESIGN EARTH, Matthias Fritsch, Geocinema (Asia Bazdyrieva & Solveig Qu Suess), Abelardo Gil-Fournier & Jussi Parikka, Alexandra Da Hypercomf, Leto Kattou, Zisis Kotionis, Manifest Data Lab (Tom Corby, Gavin Baily, Jonathan Mackenzie, Louise Sime, Giles Lane, Erin Dickson, George Roussos), Barbara Marcel, Matterlurgy (Helena Hunter & Mark Peter Wright), Petros Moris, Sybille Neumeyer, Aphrodite Psarra & Audrey Briot, Susan Schuppli, Rachel Shearer & Cathy Livermore, Denise Ferreira da Silva & Arjuna Neuman, Stefania Strouza, Superflux, Thomas Wrede.

The Weather Engines is implemented in collaboration with the National Observatory of Athens within the network Studiotopia co-financed by the European Union «Creative Europe program. With the support of the School of Communication and Culture of the University of Orchos and the program “Design and Aesthetics for Environmental Data”.

Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news

You May Also Like

Recommended for you