“Breathless” is published as part of an upcoming exhibition taking place within a pavilion on The Power Plant’s South Terrace summer 2022 – a multifaceted project that considers the urgencies evoked by today’s air crises. Conceptually, the project builds upon a recent history since post-World War II when multiple threats from the air were imminent much like today. From this point of departure, the BREATHLESS expands on Alison and Peter Smithson’s speculative project House of the Future (1956), specifically challenging the closed condition of domestic space and the notion of uncontaminated air.
The “Breathless” publication shares contributions on the paradoxes of air, atmosphere and the breath with key texts and artworks. The book begins in the smog of our current predicament including texts by: Dehlia Hannah, Achille Mbembe, Charles Stankievech, Alireza Taheri, Ala Roushan, Kate Whiteway, and Heather Davis. Art works by Flakat Haliti, Marguerite Humeau, Donna Kukama, and Julius von Bismarck weave throughout, connecting various threads and providing space to breathe.
