HYPERVentilation

This work engages with the hidden technologies that shape the climate of our time, focusing on conditioned and technologized air. Air conditioning systems form an invisible but central infrastructure in contemporary life. They symbolize a society increasingly isolating from its environment in pursuit of stable, controllable interiors, regardless of weather, place, or climate. While they may seem like markers of progress, on a global scale they represent an ecological and social dilemma. Air conditioning involves more than just cooling. It consumes energy, displaces heat, and emits greenhouse gases. The paradox of artificial cold reveals itself in two ways. First, in its energy demand, which is still largely met by fossil fuels, contributing directly to global warming and increasing the need for more cooling. Second, in its physical principle: air conditioners do not eliminate heat, they simply move it. What feels comfortable cool inside turns into external heat. This work brings that reality into physical form. Drawing from the world of climate technology, the structure is removed from its utilitarian context. What is usually hidden behind ceilings appears here as a sculptural object in public space. It no longer serves to isolate air, but shares it — as draft, as sound, as mist, as gesture, as encounter. It becomes a performative fragment of urban infrastructure in overheated cities. The installation functions, but it does not create comfort. Its technical components remain exposed and active: the hum of the motor, the flow of air, the shifts in temperature and humidity. Technology turns outward, transforming into a metaphor for something organic, almost human. A machine that breathes. Sometimes calm, sometimes stressed. It whistles when the wind touches it. It sweats under strong sun. It stirs pollen, it murmurs. In this way, it approaches the idea of atmospheric communication, echoing how animals express themselves through breath, temperature, and air. In urban life, we often treat air, temperature, and humidity as problems to solve: air conditioning for heat, filters for pollution. But in nature, these elements are expressive. Panting, sweating, puffing up - these are ways of showing presence, emotion, urgency. It’s a system that works, but not efficiently. A machine that breathes, as long as it has power.