Emily Parsons-Lord: Art made of the air we breathe
Emily Parsons-Lord: L'arte fatta dell'aria che respiriamo
Emily Parsons-Lord makes cross-disciplinary contemporary art that is informed by research and critical dialogue with materials and climate science. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
chemistry teacher with really long socks
di chimica al liceo, con lunghe calze
connected to other bubbles,
connesse ad altre bolle,
and collide in a kind of frantic soup.
collidono tra loro in una brodaglia mossa.
about the air that much at all.
affatto all'aria come un composto tale.
sensory intrusion upon it,
or something visible like smoke or mist.
come il fumo o la nebbia.
vitale, intima.
gases that envelop the Earth,
che abbracciano la Terra,
gravitational pull.
del pianeta.
the invisibility of the air.
dell'aria.
understanding of its materiality
percezione della sua immaterialità
through gas exchange,
con scambio di gas,
right now together take
un bel respiro insieme
in carbon dioxide.
di anidride carbonica.
17 breaths per minute
17 respiri al minuto,
45 million liters of air,
45 milioni di litri d'aria
di anidride carbonica,
Olympic-sized swimming pools.
18 piscine di dimensioni olimpiche.
as small as our breathing
and maybe it doesn't matter.
e forse non è neanche importante.
disegnarla,
and tactile and haptic.
of the aesthetic, how things look,
di estetica, di come le cose appaiono,
like how it feels on your skin
come cosa sentiamo sulla pelle,
as it passes through it.
quando passa attraverso l'aria.
but most importantly,
ma più importante,
to different kinds of air.
a differenti tipi di aria.
of Air: A Plant's Diary,"
Diario di una pianta,''
from different eras in Earth's evolution,
di diverse ere di evoluzione della Terra,
to come in and breathe them with me.
ad inspirarle con me.
so drastically different.
così drasticamente differente.
will look for traces
cercano tracce
that information and aggregate it,
e l'aggregano,
pretty much form a recipe
creare una ricetta
and take that recipe
prendo quella ricetta
i gas che la compongono.
in moments of time
agli attimi di tempo
of life changing the air,
la vita cambia l'aria,
how life will evolve,
l'evoluzione della vita
million years ago.
milioni di anni fa.
as the time of the giants.
l'era dei giganti.
in the history of life,
nella storia della vita
that trees are made of.
di cui sono fatti gli alberi.
their own trunks at this time,
periodo hanno sviluppato i tronchi,
bigger and bigger,
oxygen, releasing oxygen,
are about twice as high
erano circa 2 volte superiori
massive insects --
aiuta la crescita di insetti grandi
with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters.
con un'apertura alare di circa 65 cm.
and really fresh.
e fresca è ottima per la respirazione.
a really subtle kind of boost of energy.
carica di energia.
della Grande Moria
geologically speaking,
è un periodo molto breve,
in Earth's history,
nella storia della Terra,
the dinosaurs died out.
dell'estinzione dei dinosauri.
at this time die out,
si sono estinte
dramatic spike in carbon dioxide,
aumento di anidride carbonica,
eruption of volcanoes
di più vulcani
to below half of what they are today,
meno della metà dei livelli di oggi,
support human life,
la vita umana,
è abbastanza calda
like soda water.
dell'acqua frizzante.
quite pleasant.
about air of the past,
about the air of the future.
all'aria del futuro.
might be the future air,
sia l'aria in futuro,
sintetizzata dall'uomo.
anywhere in nature,
da nessuna parte in natura.
industrial settings.
differenti scenari industriali.
molto stabile
once it's released,
una volta rilasciata,
before it's broken down.
prima che venga spezzata.
some very sensual qualities.
molto sensuali.
than the air we're used to breathing.
dell'aria a cui siamo abituati.
that when you breathe it in,
quando la inspiri,
are kind of literally heavy as well,
sono molto pesanti,
and drop to the floor
e cadono sul pavimento
quite a lot like a liquid.
opera come un liquido.
with an ethical dimension as well.
anche una dimensione etica.
greenhouse gas
più potente
that of carbon dioxide,
quello dell'anidride carbonica,
of 12 to 16 generations.
is really central to my work.
del mio lavoro.
another quite surprising quality.
Ed ha un'altra sorprendente qualità.
quite dramatically.
in modo drammatico.
It's still there a bit.
Ce n'è ancora un po'.
giant insects and erupting volcanoes
giganti, vulcani in eruzione
and polar bears adrift on icebergs.
gli orsi polari sugli iceberg alla deriva.
and column graphs
talking to scientists wearing cardigans.
che indossano cardigan.
thinking about climate change
a pensare al cambiamento climatico
that we experience the air.
con cui pensiamo all'aria.
at the scale of the molecule,
interessa simultaneamente la molecola,
self-portrait of humanity.
collettivo dell'umanità.
come individui,
I've learned from looking at air,
osservando l'aria,
it's changing, it persists.
that we'd recognize,
come noi la concepiamo,
part of that change,
una parte vitale di tale cambiamento,
that we can feel the discussion.
essere sensibili alla questione.
a very vibrant trace in the air.
una traccia molto incisiva nell'aria.
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