AIR

AIR
Part 4 of the 4 Life cycle: Earth Water Fire Air

planed for 2027

Air is the connecting element between the elements from the previous sections and brings the circle full circle: in the beginning, there were plants and their photosynthesis, the fundamental prerequisite for life. They exhale oxygen, which we all need to survive. Animals and plants need air to breathe. Fire suffocates without air, and we speak of water when it contains dissolved gases. Yet, unlike the other elements, it is invisible.
So what exactly is air, and why is it so important? Power and destruction, lightning and storms are associated in many mythologies with the gods of the wind (usually male), and sometimes also with fertility and resilience. Humankind, however, has left the divine era behind and, by controlling air movements (e.g. in steam engines), has contributed significantly to the Industrial Revolution. And today, the use of natural air currents through wind turbines is intended to help satisfy our hunger for energy. When the wind starts to move, it whistles, rustles, roars, rumbles and howls.

The fact that air is transparent and therefore allows light to reach us casts colours onto objects, makes the horizon glow and gives the sky its blue appearance. But what if the sky darkens, if we run out of air due to air pollution, volcanic eruptions, etc., or if geo-engineering is used to cool down overheated regions and the sky, seeded with sulphur particles, turns a milky white? Losing the sky is no trivial matter; this has been experienced by people who, for weeks on end at the edge of major wildfires, saw nothing but thick white clouds of smoke, but no sky. Coughing, rashes, depression, asthma, shortness of breath, hallucinations … and the instruction to stay indoors and keep the air filtration system running.

Concept: Andrea Bleikamp, Jens Standke, Rosi Ulrich
Web photo: Eberhard Weible