In my research project Lux(ury) of Air, I invite people to look at the sky—a beautiful scene where one of our biggest crises is happening: air pollution. Though often invisible, it affects our health and the climate. In the workshop we ask: what makes up our atmosphere? How dependent are we on it? Is air a necessity or a luxury?
In the workshops, we make the invisible tangible by measuring light—the most basic element, collecting data in Lux, we capture sunlight through cyanotype prints: the deeper the blue, the sunnier the day. These cyanotypes alongside textile-prints (sublimation) of sky-observations are placed on a scarf, a snapshot of the sky.
The workshop had different iterations –more details below:
*Iteration 1 – Graphic Lyceum Rotterdam
*Iteration 2 – CASE Arts❤️Sciences Symposium
*Iteration 3 – Xiamen University, China: two week long ICI Summer School.
In January 2025, the first iteration took place at the Graphic Lyceum Rotterdam as part of a craft and maker course. Students used cyanotype, sublimation, and light meters to make the atmosphere visible. Thank you Maria van der Gaag for your generous support and idea’s.
On February 6, 2025, the interdisciplinary symposium Arts❤️Sciences: Vakoverstijgend Onderwijs voor de Toekomst celebrated 2.5 years of CASE (Centre for Arts, Sciences, and Education). The event, held in Amsterdam, brought together art, science, and education to explore how these fields could contribute in dealing with complex societal challenges. Among the selected workshops was Lux(ury) of Air. We explored, and reflected on, materials and making as bridges between art and science. The results were published in KunstZone magazine, in the article Data, Air and Matter. Thank you, CARADT for the support.
I was invited to lead a two-week workshop in June 2025, at the ICI Xiamen University, China. The ICI is a joint partnership between Xiamen University and the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), U.K. The workshop invited design students to look at the sky not just as a physical space, but as a vital force—an expression of Qi. Rooted in Chinese philosophy, Qi encompasses breath, air, energy, and life itself.
Through observation, using tools like the light meter to measure sky conditions, alongside reflection and hands-on work with materials such as drawing, photography, cyanotype, sublimation-printing on textiles, students explored Qi.
As an extension of the workshop, the students also took part in an exchange ‘Air Mail’ –air as a shared atmosphere: an invitation to continue the dialogue. Each student created a postcard reflecting on the air in Xiamen, addressed to students in the Material Ecologies minor at Avans University. These postcards traveled from China to the Netherlands, by airplane and bicycle, arriving in September. In November, Dutch students responded with their own messages from the Netherlands: (visual) reflections on the Dutch sky. We need to keep on corresponding.
Institute of Creativity and Innovation (ICI), Xiamen University
ICI Summer School Workshop & Lectures
CARADT
