Ideas worth spreading

Art made of the air we breathe

1,014,418 views | Emily Parsons-Lord • TEDxYouth@Sydney

Emily Parsons-Lord re-creates air from distinct moments in Earth's history -- from the clean, fresh-tasting air of the Carboniferous period to the soda-water air of the Great Dying to the heavy, toxic air of the future we're creating. By turning air into art, she invites us to know the invisible world around us. Breathe in the Earth's past and future in this imaginative, trippy talk.

Emily Parsons-Lord re-creates air from distinct moments in Earth's history -- from the clean, fresh-tasting air of the Carboniferous period to the soda-water air of the Great Dying to the heavy, toxic air of the future we're creating. By turning air into art, she invites us to know the invisible world around us. Breathe in the Earth's past and future in this imaginative, trippy talk.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxYouth@Sydney, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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About the speaker

Emily Parsons-Lord

Emily Parsons-Lord

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Emily Parsons-Lord makes cross-disciplinary contemporary art that is informed by research and critical dialogue with materials and climate science.

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emilyparsons-lord.com

FBi RADIO, 2016 | Listen

"Out of the Box" radio interview with Ash Berdebes

Gabby Chantiri | FBi RADIO, 2016 | Article

"Art we heart: Emily Parsons-Lord"

Monica Bakke | Jan Van Eyck Academie, 2007 | Book

Going Aerial: Air, Art, Architecture

Excellent book by Monica Bakke that looks at how air has been used as a material in art.

Monica Bakke | Open Humanities Press, | Book

The Life of Air: Dwelling, Communicating, Manipulating

Beautiful collection of essays about air.

Steven Connor | Reaktion Books, 2010 | Book

The Matter of Air: Science and Art of the Ethereal

Excellent cultural history of air. This is a great book to start thinking about air in a different way.

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Pamela Rosenkranz

Beautiful work that uses light and volatile chemical molecules in installation work.

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Katie Paterson

Vast work that engages with scales of time and space, particularly like Earth-Moon-Earth.

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Rachel Whiteread

Casts voids and 'empty' spaces.

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Simon Faithful's Escape vehicle no. 6

Glorious work about the impossibility of escape and the materiality of our air and atmosphere.

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Tomas Saraceno

Interested in 'cities in the sky' and the use of air as architectural material.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxYouth@Sydney, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.