Talking about the Weather
Norie Neumark & Maria Miranda
Talking About the Weather is an ongoing cross media art project collecting the world’s biggest collection of breath, to blow back global warming. The weather, once a safe way for strangers to connect, is now fraught with an edge of danger as the threat of global warming becomes more urgent. In this project talking about the weather is no longer a banal exchange of local weather forecasts, but instead people are asked to donate their breath - the breath that they would normally use to talk about the weather.
Creative contribution
What was the significant innovation in approach or thinking behind the project/artwork? How can this be recognisably attributed to the involvement of creative practice?
The project employed performative encounters with strangers in public places as a way to play with social encounters. Part of this included collecting the breath of avatars in second life - a platform that is not widely used in mainstream visual arts.
The artists were interested in “exploring how documenting can be part of the work, sets the work in motion, invites participants into the work, to play with them for a brief moment where their contribution of breath is both playful and serious.” The project is also concerned with the processes involved in mediating these encounters and the “mediated character of public space.” Quotes from Maria Miranda(written response to this survey)
The project uses symbolism of human breath to discuss issues relating to the atmosphere/climate.
Collaboration
What were the disciplinary contributors to the project? What model of research / development was followed? What were factors leading to success / problems?
This is an art project. The artists here were concerned with process rather than outcomes. They were interested in “creating a moment of collusion with strangers – playing together rather than collaboration or participation. People joined in because they grasped the playful, performative strategy. People who contributed breath seemed to do so both for these reasons as well as for their concern about global warming.” Maria Miranda(written response to this survey)
Values
What were the outcomes of the project? How were these disseminated to outside stakeholders? What models of value are implied by this project? What was the Impact of the work?
Public encounters on the streets and in the parks in USA, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands.
The work and its various components have been installed in art galleries Govett-Brewster, New Plymouth, NZ; UTS Gallery, Sydney; Wollongong City Gallery, NSW, Pictura Gallery, Dordrecht, NL; G&A Gallery Sydney and been part of Sound of Failure Festival, Sydney, and Open Studio, MacDowell Colony.
The artists have also created events on Second Life where they collected breath. The work has been well received in its various exhibitions as evidenced in part by ongoing invitations to exhibit after the first exhibition in NZ.
An important part of the project for the artists is the “collecting of breath in the community that we are exhibiting in– this inclusion of local people created interest and engagement with the project, in particular the question of global warming.” Maria Miranda(written response to this survey)
