Emily Parsons-Lord: Art made of the air we breathe
Emily Parsons-Lord: Arte hecho con el aire que respiramos
Emily Parsons-Lord makes cross-disciplinary contemporary art that is informed by research and critical dialogue with materials and climate science. Full bio
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piensa en el espacio vacío
se mecen con el viento.
de secundaria y sus muy largos calcetines
chemistry teacher with really long socks
connected to other bubbles,
conectadas a otras burbujas,
and collide in a kind of frantic soup.
en una especie de sopa frenética.
about the air that much at all.
pensar demasiado en el aire.
sensory intrusion upon it,
se interpone a nuestros sentidos,
or something visible like smoke or mist.
visible como el humo o la niebla.
lo olvidamos muy fácilmente.
gases that envelop the Earth,
que envuelven a la Tierra,
gravitational pull.
a su atracción gravitatoria.
the invisibility of the air.
understanding of its materiality
innata de su materialidad
through gas exchange,
mediante el intercambio de gases,
right now together take
ahora todos juntos
colectiva y profunda?
(Inhala)
(Exhala)
in carbon dioxide.
en dióxido de carbono.
17 breaths per minute
17 respiraciones por minuto,
45 million liters of air,
en dióxido de carbono,
Olympic-sized swimming pools.
de tamaño olímpico.
as small as our breathing
como nuestra respiración
and maybe it doesn't matter.
no tanto de imaginarlo,
and tactile and haptic.
of the aesthetic, how things look,
estética, el aspecto de las cosas,
like how it feels on your skin
sensación que produce en la piel
as it passes through it.
cuando atraviesa el aire.
but most importantly,
pero, lo más importante,
to different kinds of air.
que asociamos a diferentes aires.
of Air: A Plant's Diary,"
El diario de una planta",
from different eras in Earth's evolution,
épocas en la evolución de la Tierra
to come in and breathe them with me.
a respirarlos conmigo.
so drastically different.
son drásticamente diferentes.
will look for traces
buscarán rastros
that information and aggregate it,
y la consolidarán,
pretty much form a recipe
and take that recipe
y tomo esa receta
in moments of time
esos momentos del tiempo
que cambia el aire,
of life changing the air,
how life will evolve,
en cómo evolucionará la vida,
million years ago.
300 a 350 millones de años.
as the time of the giants.
in the history of life,
that trees are made of.
their own trunks at this time,
sus propios troncos en ese momento,
bigger and bigger,
más y más grandes
oxygen, releasing oxygen,
oxígeno, liberando oxígeno,
are about twice as high
son casi dos veces más altos
massive insects --
with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters.
con una envergadura de unos 65 cm.
and really fresh.
muy limpio y muy fresco.
a really subtle kind of boost of energy.
un sutil aumento de energía.
de los dinosaurios.
geologically speaking,
geológicamente hablando,
a unos 200 000 años.
en la historia de la Tierra,
in Earth's history,
the dinosaurs died out.
la extinción de los dinosaurios.
at this time die out,
del 85 % al 95 % de las especies,
dramatic spike in carbon dioxide,
un aumento espectacular de CO2
eruption of volcanoes
simultánea de volcanes
to below half of what they are today,
bajan a la mitad que los actuales,
support human life,
no alberga la vida humana,
es extrañamente reconfortante.
like soda water.
a agua de soda.
quite pleasant.
about air of the past,
about the air of the future.
a pensar el aire del futuro.
might be the future air,
podría ser el aire del futuro,
por el humano.
anywhere in nature,
humanos en un laboratorio
industrial settings.
usos industriales.
realmente estable
once it's released,
del aire una vez liberado,
before it's broken down.
antes de que se descomponga.
some very sensual qualities.
algunas cualidades muy sensuales.
than the air we're used to breathing.
que estamos acostumbrados a respirar.
that when you breathe it in,
que cuando lo inhalas,
are kind of literally heavy as well,
tienen peso también,
and drop to the floor
y caen al suelo
quite a lot like a liquid.
bastante como un líquido.
with an ethical dimension as well.
una dimensión ética también.
greenhouse gas
efecto invernadero más potente
that of carbon dioxide,
es 24 000 veces la del CO2,
of 12 to 16 generations.
de 12 a 16 generaciones.
is really central to my work.
es central en mi obra.
another quite surprising quality.
Tiene otra cualidad bastante sorprendente.
bastante drásticamente.
quite dramatically.
¡ooh!, todavía está allí un poco.
It's still there a bit.
giant insects and erupting volcanoes
y volcanes en erupción
vienen a la mente
and polar bears adrift on icebergs.
polares en témpanos a la deriva.
and column graphs
y de columnas
talking to scientists wearing cardigans.
con científicos que visten cardiganes.
thinking about climate change
a pensar en el cambio climático
that we experience the air.
que experimentamos el aire.
at the scale of the molecule,
está a la vez a escala molecular,
self-portrait of humanity.
autorretrato de la humanidad.
como personas,
I've learned from looking at air,
it's changing, it persists.
that we'd recognize,
de vida que reconoceríamos,
part of that change,
tan vital de ese cambio,
that we can feel the discussion.
podamos sentir esta discusión.
a very vibrant trace in the air.
un rastro muy vibrante en el aire.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Emily Parsons-Lord - ArtistEmily Parsons-Lord makes cross-disciplinary contemporary art that is informed by research and critical dialogue with materials and climate science.
Why you should listen
Through investigation into air and light, both conceptually, and culturally, Emily Parsons-Lord interrogates the materiality of invisibility, magic and the stories we tell about reality, the universe and our place in time and space. Tragi-humour, scale and invisibility are often used as access points her conceptual art practice.
Based in Sydney, Australia, Parsons-Lord's recent work includes recreating the air from past eras in Earth's evolution, recreating starlight in colored smoke, created multi-channel video and experimenting with pheromones, aerogel and chemistry. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally and participated in the Bristol Biennial – In Other Worlds, 2016, Primavera 2016 (Australia's flagship emerging art exhibition), Firstdraft Sydney and Vitalstatistix, Adelaide.
Parsons-Lord completed a bachelor of digital media (First Class Honours) 2008 at UNSW Art & Design, and a masters of peace and conflict studies from University of Sydney, 2010. She has been a researcher in residence at SymbioticA, at the Univeristy of Western Australia, and has had solo exhibitions at (forthcoming) Wellington St Projects 2017, Firstdraft in 2015, Gallery Eight in 2013 and the TAP Gallery in 2007, among many others.
Emily Parsons-Lord | Speaker | TED.com