Many thanks to Susan Goethel Campbell, all the participating artists in the 2010 SP Weather Reports, Flux Factory, and the Queens Council on the Arts for making our AIR / LAUNCH on Sunday a success.
Air, one of the classical elements, surrounds us; it is immaterial yet material; it is also a place.
Invoking the yearning reach into the air, SPWS presented a mini-survey of DIY and unorthodox ‘launches’ — from ‘man-lifting kites‘ to Lawnchair Larry. We invite anyone who has launched something themselves to contact us and participate in an ongoing area of research being archived on our website (COMING SOON).
In the gallery, Susan installed a mini-field of natural anemometers made from maple seeds. Activated by a fan (and the breeze of passers-by), the installation resembled a miniature wind farm.
Alongside these was a grid of 24 used air filters in a spectrum of whites, browns, and grays. Comprising Campbell’s “Dirty Pictures: Portraits of Air” Volume 1, the filters were unscientific samplings of dirty air taken by participants in 7 countries, documented in a fold-out offset publication that was also on view. In her talk, Susan described several projects inspired both by specific atmospheric phenomena (real and man-made clouds in Detroit) and by the way that weather is documented and measured (drawing upon meteorological data as well as more immediate visual/tactile means).
We took the opportunity to ‘launch’ two projects:
For Volume 2 of “Dirty Pictures: Portraits of Air,” Susan distributed new air filters to participants who will create a visual record of particulate matter in the air across the five boroughs of NYC over the coming months.
The 2010 SP Weather Report portfolio is now available! A snapshot:
Contact spweatherstation@gmail.com for more information.
More images for the event are online here.
Participating artists include: (January) Liz Zanis; (February) Graham McDougal; (March) James Walsh; (April) Carissa Carman; (May) Mark Parsons; (June) Tim Dye; (July) Douglas Paulson; (August) Robyn York; (September) Cross Current Resonance Transducer [LoVid (Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus) and Douglas Repetto]; (October) Nicholas Fraser; (November) Man Bartlett and Angela Washko; (December) Ellie Harrison.