Exhibition:
Notes on Air
2050+
Salt Beyoğlu
May 8 – August 18, 2024
Notes on Air is an immersive installation conceived and designed by the Milan-based interdisciplinary design agency 2050+ for Salt Beyoğlu’s Forum. It stages a reimagination of air toxicity, employing a blend of material, sonic, and visual experiments. Through this aesthetic exploration, elements that are typically intangible—untouched, unheard, unseen—provide an instance for an embodied, sensorial encounter.
The installation encourages visitors to engage with the materiality of air as it unfolds through a series of interventions: curtains that reveal the chemical composition of air (including nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide), each depicted with a color indicating different degrees of toxicity, alongside embroidered data and imagery demonstrating their prevalence across varying scales; a soundscape that conjures the otherwise inaudible conditions resulting from chemical reactions triggered by the interaction of these airborne elements; and an animated reconstruction of the Istanbul sky, crafted through photogrammetry, a technique typically used to capture static, solid objects. In this instance, it attempts to evidence and give form to the invisible gaseous substances that envelop the Earth.
Notes on Air is a call to expand our understanding of the complexities inherent in the air we breathe. It beckons us to explore not only the toxicity that permeates and travels through the air but also the intricate social and political ramifications it carries, the local and global traces it unveils, and the undeniable planetary interconnections it underscores. Foregrounding the fact that air is primarily a shared domain where the actions of one region reverberate across vast distances, the exhibition highlights the imperative of collective action toward a world where clean and breathable air is a common and universal right.
The exhibition will be on view between May 8-August 18 in the Forum area at Salt Beyoğlu. The accompanying public programs will be announced at saltonline.org and Salt’s social media channels.
2050+ is a Milan-based interdisciplinary agency whose work revolves around diverse forms of critical spatial practices at the intersection of technology, politics, and the environment. Founded in 2020, the agency has carried out various projects encompassing curatorial and research practices, exhibition design, and architecture. These include the curation of Open, the Russian Federation Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, and Synthetic Cultures at the 10th Architecture Biennale Rotterdam; the scenography and set design for Penumbra and Nebula at the Fondazione In Between Art Film (on the occasion of the 59th and 60th Venice Biennale respectively), Donizetti’s opera Il diluvio universale (Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo), Meredith Monk: Calling (Haus der Kunst, Munich), As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin), Søylerommet – The Pillars, a permanent exhibition space for the Fredriksen Collection (Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo), Aquaria – Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea (MAAT, Lisbon); the architectural renovation and spatial transformation of La Rinascente by Franco Albini and Franca Helg in Rome, the heritage building Multertor in St. Gallen, and 10 Corso Como in Milan. The agency’s independent research projects include the short films Riders Not Heroes and Riders Not Heroes: Anatomy of a Delivery, featured at the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial in 2020–2021 and the CCA in Montreal in 2022. Texts authored by 2050+ have been published on numerous editorial platforms, including Flash Art, e-flux Architecture, Terraforma Journal, Volume, and Unbore.
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2050+ Team: Che Facchin, Erica Petrillo, Guglielmo Campeggi, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Kamil Dalkir, Meera Badran, Nils Grootenzerink, Sara Barbini
Sound Designer: Francesco D’Abbraccio (Lorem)
Production: Emirhan Altuner
Project Team: Eylül Şenses, Emirhan Altuner, Fatma Çolakoğlu
Turkish Translation: Cüneyt Bender
Installation: Eray Özcan, Mustafa Hazneci, Fiksatif, 3T Reklam
Acknowledgments: Prof. Dr. Melek Türker Saçan, Mehmet Yaranona, Onur Atay, Asya Ece Uzmay, Doğanay Tolunay, Orkun Dayıoğlu, Orhan Uslu
Notes on Air is realized with support from Salt’s founder, Garanti BBVA; in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Istanbul; and with the contributions of Eureko Sigorta and Jotun.
The installation encourages visitors to engage with the materiality of air as it unfolds through a series of interventions: curtains that reveal the chemical composition of air (including nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide), each depicted with a color indicating different degrees of toxicity, alongside embroidered data and imagery demonstrating their prevalence across varying scales; a soundscape that conjures the otherwise inaudible conditions resulting from chemical reactions triggered by the interaction of these airborne elements; and an animated reconstruction of the Istanbul sky, crafted through photogrammetry, a technique typically used to capture static, solid objects. In this instance, it attempts to evidence and give form to the invisible gaseous substances that envelop the Earth.
Notes on Air is a call to expand our understanding of the complexities inherent in the air we breathe. It beckons us to explore not only the toxicity that permeates and travels through the air but also the intricate social and political ramifications it carries, the local and global traces it unveils, and the undeniable planetary interconnections it underscores. Foregrounding the fact that air is primarily a shared domain where the actions of one region reverberate across vast distances, the exhibition highlights the imperative of collective action toward a world where clean and breathable air is a common and universal right.
The exhibition will be on view between May 8-August 18 in the Forum area at Salt Beyoğlu. The accompanying public programs will be announced at saltonline.org and Salt’s social media channels.
2050+ is a Milan-based interdisciplinary agency whose work revolves around diverse forms of critical spatial practices at the intersection of technology, politics, and the environment. Founded in 2020, the agency has carried out various projects encompassing curatorial and research practices, exhibition design, and architecture. These include the curation of Open, the Russian Federation Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, and Synthetic Cultures at the 10th Architecture Biennale Rotterdam; the scenography and set design for Penumbra and Nebula at the Fondazione In Between Art Film (on the occasion of the 59th and 60th Venice Biennale respectively), Donizetti’s opera Il diluvio universale (Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo), Meredith Monk: Calling (Haus der Kunst, Munich), As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories (Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin), Søylerommet – The Pillars, a permanent exhibition space for the Fredriksen Collection (Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo), Aquaria – Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea (MAAT, Lisbon); the architectural renovation and spatial transformation of La Rinascente by Franco Albini and Franca Helg in Rome, the heritage building Multertor in St. Gallen, and 10 Corso Como in Milan. The agency’s independent research projects include the short films Riders Not Heroes and Riders Not Heroes: Anatomy of a Delivery, featured at the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial in 2020–2021 and the CCA in Montreal in 2022. Texts authored by 2050+ have been published on numerous editorial platforms, including Flash Art, e-flux Architecture, Terraforma Journal, Volume, and Unbore.
2050+ Team: Che Facchin, Erica Petrillo, Guglielmo Campeggi, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Kamil Dalkir, Meera Badran, Nils Grootenzerink, Sara Barbini
Sound Designer: Francesco D’Abbraccio (Lorem)
Production: Emirhan Altuner
Project Team: Eylül Şenses, Emirhan Altuner, Fatma Çolakoğlu
Turkish Translation: Cüneyt Bender
Installation: Eray Özcan, Mustafa Hazneci, Fiksatif, 3T Reklam
Acknowledgments: Prof. Dr. Melek Türker Saçan, Mehmet Yaranona, Onur Atay, Asya Ece Uzmay, Doğanay Tolunay, Orkun Dayıoğlu, Orhan Uslu
Notes on Air is realized with support from Salt’s founder, Garanti BBVA; in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Istanbul; and with the contributions of Eureko Sigorta and Jotun.
In Collaboration