To Whom Does The Air Belong To?
Date2014
MediumTwo-channel video, 6:40 min, looped hand-blown glass bubbles, video screen embedded in white acrylic board
Dimensions20 × 15 × 14 inches (50.8 × 38.1 × 35.6 cm)
Film/Video Length: 6.4 minutes (384 seconds)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds provided by the Gari Melchers Collectors' Society.
Object number2018.8
Copyright© Katja Loher.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextSwiss artist Katja Loher creates video sculptures and environments that blend technology with performance, collaborating with artists of different disciplines, including choreographers, dancers, costume designers, and glassblowers. In her videos, human performers often spell out poems with their bodies, personify creatures from the natural world, or represent forces of nature. Loher’s sculptures and installations take the form of projections on weather balloon–size “video planets,” as well as smaller domes, glass bubbles, and nests with embedded video screens.
To Whom Does the Air Belong To? appears sleek and futuristic on the outside, contrasting with the nature-focused videos within. Two handblown glass bubbles with inset videos emerge from a clean white acrylic background. In one video, performers costumed as bees participate in the “waggle dance,” a movement that bees use to communicate about food sources. In the other bubble, costumed characters represent flower stamens visited by the bees. As the sequence plays out, the “bees” gradually transform, their wings giving way to human arms and their heads becoming those of helmeted human workers. Loher’s work speaks to the phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder, which resulted in large declines in worker honeybee populations, possibly caused in part by agricultural pesticides. What at first appears to be a window into the natural world is in fact revealed to be a future in which humans may have to assume the work of pollinators if bees disappear.
