The World Indoors

2015

The world indoors is an installation that makes use of three types of tropical houseplants, the areca palm, the mother-in-law’s tongue and the money plant, in a combination supposed to produce ‘ideal’ air conditions. They are presented with a looped video that uses microscopic imagery of these same plants, that have been found to filter harmful substances and provide the fresh air and humidity needed in indoor environments, as well as in closed systems such as space stations.

By bringing up questions of material exchanges taking place through air, and how we come to notice them, the installation addresses human entanglement with a world made of and animated by the various trajectories of things, beings and entities. It touches upon issues of air conditioning and air pollution and the cultural political context that make them perceptible.