What is the color of the air?
What is the color of the air?
2015
Two-channel video with sound, 5:55min, looped
Hand-blown glass bubbles, video screen embedded in white acrylic
on/off switch and sound control
14 x 14 x 10 in / 36 x 36 x 25 cm
What is the Color of the Air? reflects the looming threat of extinction of one of the earth’s major pollinators: the butterfly. Much of Loher’s work indeed addresses ecological issues and the future of humanity, dependent on overlooked details such as the plight of species, potential abuses of technology, and the imperative for collective consciousness. Beauty is omnipresent as an artistic statement of the essence of life sustaining processes supporting our planet.
The choreographies presented in her videos reveal beautiful kaleidoscopic patterns. Abstract dance formations filmed from above, they recall the complicity and harmony of synchronized swimmers, either humans or animals. Written words are twined with the corporal dance, juxtaposing language and the enigmatic communication of the animal kingdom. Performers mimic the somatic, sonar-type exchange of information found in ant colonies, bee hives, or schools of fish, inviting us to abandon mankind’s hubristic nature over animals and to look for answers from another point of view.