DESCRIPTION:
Life Support Systems
2011
Life Support Systems: from Earth (left)
Life Support Systems: Ether (middle)
Life Support Systems: View from Tomorrow (right)
Glass and Perspex
L 950 W 250 H 950 mm
Life Support Systems uses NASA’s space suit helmet glass to create a series of three atmospheric weather maps charting shifting weather conditions in the atmosphere over Antarctica that have global implications. The maps are hung sequentially and read from left to right. The unfolding narrative of shifting weather is described in short texts below each work that evolve from history of monitoring Earth’s atmosphere to today’s attitudes towards Climate Change: the forecast for tomorrow. The aim of the series was to examine how the forecast for tomorrow’s weather is reliant on our perception of our environment today. The work is fabricated from glass that was originally used as a part of the life support system of a space suit and drawing a parallel with its natural counterpart, the Ozone Layer.
1. Life Support Systems: from Earth (left)
From Earth the immanent threat of the ecological conundrum evades sensory perception. On a clear morning the sky appears blue, the atmosphere majestic. The unseen danger that looms above appears only as a flickering to those aware of the impending situation.
2. Life Support Systems: Ether (middle)
On the 24th of September 2006 the largest observed ozone hole was monitored in Earth’s Atmosphere. At 29.5 million km2 it more than doubled the area of Antarctica, 14 million km2 including ice.
Ether makes visible the thin reflective film of ozone protecting Earth, and outlines the inconceivable enormity of the unstable area. Like a bubble whose structural integrity has been compromised, the Earth’s life support system is tethered to an ecosystem of universal proportions from which no part is immune from the changes of its counterparts.
3. Life Support Systems: View from Tomorrow (right)
View from Tomorrow maps the forecast for changing atmospheric conditions over Antarctica as the ozone hole closes and toxic greenhouse gases are trapped. At sunset the sky is set a blaze with luminous artificial colours caused by pollution in the atmosphere, a beautiful decay predicted to intensify in years to come.
From the outside looking in it is apparent that perception is reliant on perspective. Vast amounts of scientific data produced to comprehend changing environmental conditions challenge the way we make sense of the world. The forecast for tomorrow is reliant on our perception of today.
This work has been exhibited
Wonderland - Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei 2012
For more on the exhibition please click on the image below-
This creation of this artwork has been Proudly Supported by the City of Melbourne
