Atem / Breath. Gestalterische, ökologische und soziale Dimensionen / Morphological, Ecological and Social Dimensions
New Anthology Co-edited by Cluster Member Iva Rešetar
Cover of the publication »Atem/Breath. Gestalterische, ökologische und soziale Dimensionen/ Morphological, Ecological and Social Dimensions«, edited by Linn Burchert and Iva Rešetar.
In the course of breathing – in the process of constant exchange and crossing of boundaries between the organism and its environment – air as an »immaterial« material becomes active. For the first time, this anthology brings together studies on breath from the perspective of the arts and humanities, as well as experimental scientific and design practices. Focusing on the period from 1900 to the present day, the publication covers an era during which air has become a precarious medium: whether in the context of climate change or global pandemic, space technology or gas warfare, air is now co-created and manipulated by humans. Against this backdrop, breath appears as an elusive yet vital substance that reveals the interconnections between the physical, symbolic, technological and social realms.
The volume is edited by Linn Burchert and Iva Rešetar, including their writings as well as contributions by Cluster members Lorenzo Guiducci, Léa Perraudin, Christiane Sauer and Clemens Winkler. The core of the manuscript are the texts of the conference Atem / Breath, which took place in 2019 at the Department of Art and Visual History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and was organized by Linn Burchert with Rebecca Schönsee, and on behalf of the Cluster by Claudia Blümle.
In an interdisciplinary collaboration, the book has been expanded with further studies from the fields of art and art history, curating, materials science, architecture, and design. The essays are combined with a series of conversations and visuals that address historical accounts of breath and its current critical status, and give voice to recent art practices and research experiments.
- Comprehensive research on breath in socio-political contexts from modernity to the present
- New references to debates on ecology, atmosphere and social critique
- Contributions from art history, architectural history and theory, cultural studies, art and interdisciplinary practices
The anthology is published both as a printed book and an Open Access e-book.
Publishers website and download link