Air

Ideas can outlast towers of stone, but they require care and attention to do so. Patrick Pound uses the most intangible of subjects — in this instance, air — to ask how we build, hold and share knowledge. Pound amplifies his invisible subject by asking viewers to trace the movement of meaning between images, artworks and objects. He asks how what we see might ‘hold’ this intangible subject. In a line of paintings, we discern air moving from left to right. Elsewhere, it is evoked by an airhorn, an inflatable raft, or steam. Some items hold multiple meanings, like the flame of a candle extinguished with a breath. Taken to such extremes, Pound’s logic is humorous and energising, allowing us to see air anew as we rise above our habitual systems of thinking to discover an open space for play and reinvention. Those entering Anthony McCall’s installation Crossing 2016 are met with a slow-shifting architecture of light: as seconds pass, a white gleaming cone opens or is intersected by a diagonal blade. The room is dark and full of haze, which catches the projected light. Visitors often watch hesitantly, finding their bearings, then move towards the light. They reach out in wonder to test its solidity, only to discover there is nothing but air beneath their fingers. Initially, viewers navigate the walls of light as if they were solid: stepping within, looking out. And then, in a kind of quiet miracle, they walk, or even circle and spin through, what at first seemed so solid, finding energy in the freedom of crossing boundaries and the sensation of discovery. We will need energy to face the critical decade ahead, as we are called to find new ways to move and act together to slow the rate at which our atmosphere is warming, and to care for all who share it. Air is intrinsic to our capacity for ingenuity and invention. Reflecting on who is afforded the liberty and opportunity to reach their full potential, we are reminded that we do not all breathe the same air. Drawing from these powerful artworks, we celebrate the potential for air to nurture life and convey change, and to sustain so much: from the miracle of our every breath to the wonder of flight. Patrick Pound / Air heading left (The air lock) (details) 2022 (opposite) Anthony McCall / Crossing 2016 (installation view, GOMA 2016) 42 Do we all breathe the same air?