Art made of the air we breathe
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0:01 - 0:04If I asked you to picture the air,
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0:05 - 0:06what do you imagine?
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0:09 - 0:12Most people think about either empty space
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0:12 - 0:14or clear blue sky
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0:15 - 0:17or sometimes trees dancing in the wind.
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0:18 - 0:22And then I remember my high school
chemistry teacher with really long socks -
0:22 - 0:23at the blackboard,
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0:23 - 0:26drawing diagrams of bubbles
connected to other bubbles, -
0:26 - 0:31and describing how they vibrate
and collide in a kind of frantic soup. -
0:32 - 0:36But really, we tend not to think
about the air that much at all. -
0:37 - 0:38We notice it mostly
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0:38 - 0:42when there's some kind of unpleasant
sensory intrusion upon it, -
0:43 - 0:47like a terrible smell
or something visible like smoke or mist. -
0:48 - 0:50But it's always there.
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0:51 - 0:54It's touching all of us right now.
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0:54 - 0:55It's even inside us.
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0:57 - 1:02Our air is immediate, vital and intimate.
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1:03 - 1:06And yet, it's so easily forgotten.
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1:08 - 1:10So what is the air?
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1:10 - 1:14It's the combination of the invisible
gases that envelop the Earth, -
1:14 - 1:16attracted by the Earth's
gravitational pull. -
1:17 - 1:21And even though I'm a visual artist,
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1:21 - 1:24I'm interested in
the invisibility of the air. -
1:25 - 1:27I'm interested in how we imagine it,
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1:27 - 1:29how we experience it
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1:29 - 1:33and how we all have an innate
understanding of its materiality -
1:33 - 1:34through breathing.
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1:37 - 1:42All life on Earth changes the air
through gas exchange, -
1:42 - 1:44and we're all doing it right now.
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1:45 - 1:48Actually, why don't we all
right now together take -
1:48 - 1:50one big, collective, deep breath in.
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1:50 - 1:53Ready? In. (Inhales)
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1:55 - 1:57And out. (Exhales)
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1:59 - 2:01That air that you just exhaled,
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2:01 - 2:05you enriched a hundred times
in carbon dioxide. -
2:06 - 2:12So roughly five liters of air per breath,
17 breaths per minute -
2:13 - 2:18of the 525,600 minutes per year,
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2:18 - 2:24comes to approximately
45 million liters of air, -
2:24 - 2:28enriched 100 times in carbon dioxide,
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2:28 - 2:29just for you.
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2:30 - 2:34Now, that's equivalent to about 18
Olympic-sized swimming pools. -
2:36 - 2:38For me, air is plural.
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2:38 - 2:42It's simultaneously
as small as our breathing -
2:42 - 2:43and as big as the planet.
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2:45 - 2:48And it's kind of hard to picture.
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2:49 - 2:52Maybe it's impossible,
and maybe it doesn't matter. -
2:52 - 2:55Through my visual arts practice,
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2:55 - 2:58I try to make air, not so much picture it,
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2:58 - 3:02but to make it visceral
and tactile and haptic. -
3:03 - 3:08I try to expand this notion
of the aesthetic, how things look, -
3:08 - 3:12so that it can include things
like how it feels on your skin -
3:12 - 3:13and in your lungs,
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3:13 - 3:16and how your voice sounds
as it passes through it. -
3:18 - 3:23I explore the weight, density and smell,
but most importantly, -
3:23 - 3:26I think a lot about the stories we attach
to different kinds of air. -
3:30 - 3:34This is a work I made in 2014.
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3:35 - 3:38It's called "Different Kinds
of Air: A Plant's Diary," -
3:38 - 3:42where I was recreating the air
from different eras in Earth's evolution, -
3:42 - 3:45and inviting the audience
to come in and breathe them with me. -
3:45 - 3:49And it's really surprising,
so drastically different. -
3:50 - 3:52Now, I'm not a scientist,
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3:52 - 3:55but atmospheric scientists
will look for traces -
3:55 - 3:58in the air chemistry in geology,
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3:58 - 4:00a bit like how rocks can oxidize,
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4:00 - 4:03and they'll extrapolate
that information and aggregate it, -
4:03 - 4:07such that they can
pretty much form a recipe -
4:07 - 4:08for the air at different times.
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4:09 - 4:11Then I come in as the artist
and take that recipe -
4:11 - 4:14and recreate it using the component gases.
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4:16 - 4:20I was particularly interested
in moments of time -
4:20 - 4:24that are examples
of life changing the air, -
4:24 - 4:27but also the air that can influence
how life will evolve, -
4:29 - 4:31like Carboniferous air.
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4:32 - 4:35It's from about 300 to 350
million years ago. -
4:36 - 4:39It's an era known
as the time of the giants. -
4:39 - 4:42So for the first time
in the history of life, -
4:42 - 4:43lignin evolves.
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4:43 - 4:46That's the hard stuff
that trees are made of. -
4:46 - 4:49So trees effectively invent
their own trunks at this time, -
4:49 - 4:51and they get really big,
bigger and bigger, -
4:51 - 4:53and pepper the Earth,
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4:53 - 4:56releasing oxygen, releasing
oxygen, releasing oxygen, -
4:56 - 5:00such that the oxygen levels
are about twice as high -
5:00 - 5:01as what they are today.
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5:02 - 5:05And this rich air supports
massive insects -- -
5:05 - 5:11huge spiders and dragonflies
with a wingspan of about 65 centimeters. -
5:12 - 5:16To breathe, this air is really clean
and really fresh. -
5:16 - 5:18It doesn't so much have a flavor,
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5:18 - 5:22but it does give your body
a really subtle kind of boost of energy. -
5:22 - 5:24It's really good for hangovers.
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5:24 - 5:27(Laughter)
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5:27 - 5:29Or there's the air of the Great Dying --
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5:29 - 5:33that's about 252.5 million years ago,
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5:33 - 5:35just before the dinosaurs evolve.
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5:35 - 5:39It's a really short time period,
geologically speaking, -
5:39 - 5:42from about 20- to 200,000 years.
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5:42 - 5:43Really quick.
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5:44 - 5:47This is the greatest extinction event
in Earth's history, -
5:47 - 5:49even bigger than when
the dinosaurs died out. -
5:50 - 5:54Eighty-five to 95 percent of species
at this time die out, -
5:54 - 5:59and simultaneous to that is a huge,
dramatic spike in carbon dioxide, -
5:59 - 6:01that a lot of scientists agree
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6:01 - 6:04comes from a simultaneous
eruption of volcanoes -
6:04 - 6:06and a runaway greenhouse effect.
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6:09 - 6:13Oxygen levels at this time go
to below half of what they are today, -
6:13 - 6:14so about 10 percent.
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6:14 - 6:17So this air would definitely not
support human life, -
6:17 - 6:19but it's OK to just have a breath.
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6:19 - 6:22And to breathe, it's oddly comforting.
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6:22 - 6:25It's really calming, it's quite warm
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6:25 - 6:29and it has a flavor a little bit
like soda water. -
6:29 - 6:32It has that kind of spritz,
quite pleasant. -
6:33 - 6:35So with all this thinking
about air of the past, -
6:35 - 6:39it's quite natural to start thinking
about the air of the future. -
6:40 - 6:43And instead of being speculative with air
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6:43 - 6:46and just making up what I think
might be the future air, -
6:46 - 6:50I discovered this human-synthesized air.
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6:51 - 6:54That means that it doesn't occur
anywhere in nature, -
6:54 - 6:57but it's made by humans in a laboratory
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6:57 - 7:00for application in different
industrial settings. -
7:02 - 7:03Why is it future air?
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7:04 - 7:07Well, this air is a really stable molecule
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7:08 - 7:12that will literally be part of the air
once it's released, -
7:12 - 7:16for the next 300 to 400 years,
before it's broken down. -
7:16 - 7:20So that's about 12 to 16 generations.
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7:21 - 7:25And this future air has
some very sensual qualities. -
7:26 - 7:27It's very heavy.
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7:28 - 7:32It's about eight times heavier
than the air we're used to breathing. -
7:33 - 7:36It's so heavy, in fact,
that when you breathe it in, -
7:36 - 7:40whatever words you speak
are kind of literally heavy as well, -
7:40 - 7:43so they dribble down your chin
and drop to the floor -
7:43 - 7:45and soak into the cracks.
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7:45 - 7:48It's an air that operates
quite a lot like a liquid. -
7:50 - 7:53Now, this air comes
with an ethical dimension as well. -
7:54 - 7:56Humans made this air,
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7:56 - 8:00but it's also the most potent
greenhouse gas -
8:00 - 8:02that has ever been tested.
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8:03 - 8:09Its warming potential is 24,000 times
that of carbon dioxide, -
8:09 - 8:12and it has that longevity
of 12 to 16 generations. -
8:13 - 8:18So this ethical confrontation
is really central to my work. -
8:32 - 8:35(In a lowered voice) It has
another quite surprising quality. -
8:35 - 8:39It changes the sound of your voice
quite dramatically. -
8:39 - 8:42(Laughter)
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8:45 - 8:48So when we start to think -- ooh!
It's still there a bit. -
8:48 - 8:50(Laughter)
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8:50 - 8:52When we think about climate change,
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8:52 - 8:58we probably don't think about
giant insects and erupting volcanoes -
8:58 - 9:00or funny voices.
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9:01 - 9:04The images that more readily come to mind
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9:04 - 9:09are things like retreating glaciers
and polar bears adrift on icebergs. -
9:09 - 9:12We think about pie charts
and column graphs -
9:12 - 9:16and endless politicians
talking to scientists wearing cardigans. -
9:18 - 9:22But perhaps it's time we start
thinking about climate change -
9:22 - 9:26on the same visceral level
that we experience the air. -
9:28 - 9:33Like air, climate change is simultaneously
at the scale of the molecule, -
9:33 - 9:36the breath and the planet.
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9:37 - 9:41It's immediate, vital and intimate,
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9:41 - 9:45as well as being amorphous and cumbersome.
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9:46 - 9:50And yet, it's so easily forgotten.
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9:52 - 9:56Climate change is the collective
self-portrait of humanity. -
9:56 - 9:58It reflects our decisions as individuals,
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9:58 - 10:00as governments and as industries.
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10:02 - 10:05And if there's anything
I've learned from looking at air, -
10:05 - 10:08it's that even though
it's changing, it persists. -
10:09 - 10:12It may not support the kind of life
that we'd recognize, -
10:12 - 10:14but it will support something.
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10:15 - 10:19And if we humans are such a vital
part of that change, -
10:19 - 10:22I think it's important
that we can feel the discussion. -
10:23 - 10:27Because even though it's invisible,
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10:27 - 10:32humans are leaving
a very vibrant trace in the air. -
10:33 - 10:34Thank you.
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10:34 - 10:36(Applause)
- Title:
- Art made of the air we breathe
- Speaker:
- Emily Parsons-Lord
- Description:
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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.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 10:49
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Art made of the air we breathe |