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In the Air

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Colour photograph of three people watching a very large, curved screen. The young man on the left is standing up with his hands behind his back. The young man in the middle is in a wheelchair, to the right of a girl who is sat on a chair. On the screen is a scene showing blue sky and white clouds.
In the Air exhibition. Cloud Studies, digital film with audio. 2021, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. © Forensic Architecture.

A bracing, uplifting and potentially reinvigorating exploration of the surprisingly long history of fighting for breath

The Guardian

In the Air explores our relationship with the air around us. Moving freely across borders and through bodies, air is both vital to our existence and a threat to our health. 

The exhibition explores the relationship between the air and earth, from 3.5-billion-year-old fossilised bacteria that first introduced oxygen into the atmosphere to delicate porcelain sculptures of the glaciers that provide a record of the air and our impact on it. It charts the history of activism against pollution from 17th-century accounts of coal smoke in London to contemporary protests against levels of toxic air that disproportionately impact communities of colour in our cities. Immersive and imaginative film installations introduce us to magnified versions of the particles that occupy our air; reveal the ways that air is weaponised across the world – but also reconnect us to the healing properties of fresh air.

The air we share is investigated through the work of Tacita Dean, David Rickard, Dryden Goodwin, Forensic Architecture, Choked Up, Anna Atkins, Black and Brown Films, Irene Kopelman, Ernst Haeckel, John Evelyn and Matterlurgy.

Exhibition highlights

Colour photograph showing an exhibit in a museum. The exhibit is a large cuboid structure made of stacked rectangular grey and beige concrete blocks. The exhibit is on a white stand. There is a purple wall behind the exhibit with a number of framed images on it. To the left of the images there is a display table with a glass covering.
A Roomful of Air. 2022, David Rickard. © Courtesy of the artist and Copperfield London.
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These concrete blocks represent the exact weight of the air in the gallery, adjusted for altitude, humidity and warmth. Although air is unseen, it has a weight that would crush our bodies if they didn’t also contain air.

Colour photograph of two young men watching a film on a large screen in a dark room. One of the boys, wearing a yellow and blue checked sweater vest, is seated, whilst the other boy is in a wheelchair. Both are wearing face masks. The film shows the dark silhouette of a hand holding some plastic.
A Bag of Air. 16mm black and white film. 1995, Tacita Dean. © Tacita Dean. Courtesy the artist, Frith Street Gallery, London and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York and Paris.
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Tacita Dean’s film depicts a short journey in a hot air balloon – itself a bag of gas lighter than air – as she attempts to capture a cloud. As the balloon rises, Dean gives instructions for collecting a bag of air “so intoxicated with the essence of spring that when it is distilled and prepared… will produce an oil of gold, remedy enough to heal all ailments.”

Colour photograph showing three small gold and brown tree-shaped objects standing up next to each other. The objects are in a glass box. On the right is the edge of a white sign with writing on it.
Precambrian Stromatolite from Australia. 800 million years ago. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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The story of our breathable atmosphere began around 3 billion years ago when microscopic organisms called cyanobacteria began to photosynthesise sunlight, pumping oxygen into the ocean and air. These early life-forms, which transformed the world, became fossilised as stromatolites.

Colour photograph of an open hardback book on a bookstand inside a glass box. The edges of two other books are visible either side of the central book. The pages the the book is open on are different shades of blue. The left page is blank and the right page has a white image of a plant root. There is a small white label below the book.
Laurencia pinnatifida (osmunita), 'Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions', Volume 1 Part 2, by Anna Atkins, 1843-1853, Anna Atkins. © Horniman Museum and Gardens, H1902.
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Today, most of our oxygen is still produced by organisms in the sea such as phytoplankton, algae and seaweed. Anna Atkins was a botanist who documented such aquatic plant-life and created cyanotypes by laying algae on paper coated with photo-sensitive paint to capture their silhouettes.

Colour photograph of a white porcelain sculpture of part of a glacier. The porcelain has many cracks in it. The sculpture is in a display cabinet with a glass cover over it.
Gornergletscher from On Top Figure 20. 2017, Irene Kopelman. Source: Reproduced with permission of the artist and Labor, Mexico City. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Irene Kopelman worked with scientists to map the structure of the Gorner glacier. Glacial ice traps air, which can be analysed for fluctuating levels of chemicals and give us a valuable history of the earth through its air.

Colour photograph of three books laid next to eachother on a flat white surface. The book on the left is titled 'Guilty Chimneys'. The book in the centre is titled 'Clean air begins at home'. The book on the right is titled 'Pollution from road vehicles'.
Guilty Chimneys, Clean Air Begins at Home, Pollution from Road Vehicles. Environmental Protection UK, c.1950 – 1980. Source: Wellcome Collection. © All rights reserved.
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Environmental Protection UK grew out of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society, which was originally formed in 1898. The Society was instrumental in the introduction of the Clean Air Act of 1956, prompted by the Great London Smog in 1952, which killed thousands of people. As the prevalence of coal was reduced, the Society shifted focus to industrial and traffic pollution.

Colour photograph of a small metal telescope elevated on a stand. There is a piece of paper with text next to the telescope, which explains what it is used for. Both the telescope and piece of paper are inside of a glass box.
The Ringelmann Telesmoke. W. Ottway & Co Ltd, c.1960. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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The Ringelmann Telesmoke was designed to visualise air pollution levels to determine if pollution levels were adhering to the Clean Air Act of 1956. It was used with charts illustrating five shades of grey to measure density of smoke.

Colour photograph of a dark room with a very large, curved screen. Playing on the screen are about a dozen grey, particle-shaped round floating objects.
Air Morphologies, Matterlurgy & artsXR, 2022. Panoramic film. © Matterlurgy & artsXR.
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In this panoramic film, airborne particles invite you to reflect on materials that are in the air, yet remain unseen. Fly Ash, produced from coal-burning power plants, speaks of its material composition and potential health effects.

Colour photograph of three sketches on white paper. The sketches show the shirtless upper body, specifically the torso, chest and head, of a slim boy. In all the sketches the boy is shown looking upwards .
Breathe:2022, Dryden Goodwin. © Dryden Goodwin. Image courtesy the artist and Invisible Dust. 2022.
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These drawings are from a selection of over 1,000 studies Dryden Goodwin has produced of six Lewisham residents and activists for Breathe:2022. The drawings capture each person in the act of breathing. They will be enlarged and installed as posters on railway bridges, streetside hoardings and buildings alongside the heavily polluted South Circular Road in Lewisham and made into a large-scale animation.

Photograph of a dark room with a very large curved screen and five empty chairs facing the screen. The screen shows a field with several trees and a telephone line running through it. To the right of the screen is an arial map of a number of green, partitioned plots of land. One section of land has an white square graphic surrounding it, and is labelled 'Buena Vista Plantation Cemetary'.
Cloud Studies. Digital film with audio. 2021, Forensic Architecture. © Forensic Architecture.
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This film explores clouds as meteorological and political entities and reveals some of the ways they have been weaponised around the world. It explores how air can be mobilised to oppress, police and contaminate people and environments.

Colour photograph of an exhibit in a museum. There are 27 small images of the sky, most of them blue and many with white clouds. The images are all positioned close together on a white wall. To the bottom right of the images is a small white textbook .
David Rickard ‘International Airspace’. 2019. © David Rickard, courtesy of the artist and Copperfield London.
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This work marks the 100-year anniversary of the Paris convention in 1919. This extended land borders upwards to create nationalised air spaces in response to new aviation technologies. The glass vessel contains air collected from the 27 participating countries accompanied by photographs taken where the air was captured. A team of collaborators produced the work to reflect on the invisible borders that divide the sky and emphasise the global nature of the air we breathe.