Absolute Humidity

Absolute Humidity is a volume that aims to re-position conversations about the climate, weather and the environment by placing artist’s voices at the centre of the discussion. The publication focuses on contemporary artists from the Asia-Pacific region, including twenty-eight new conversations and other contributions that form a new constellation of inquiries. Through this project, contributors discuss how ideas surrounding weather, the environment and the climate be conceptualised by artists producing fresh ideas surrounding artistic agency. Bringing together some key voices from this region, this book includes practices that span from Jakarta to Brisbane, from Ho Chin Min City to Mumbai, from Hong Kong to Dubai and more. For example, Bahar Behbahani discusses her love of Islamic design through a de-colonial lens, looking at the nuanced role of water within these histories in Iran, and how this folds into her artistic practice. Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan speak about living between the Philippines and Australia and how this has informed their life and art practice, using Filipino Balikbayan boxes as an analogy for migration. Zheng Bo straddles the space between politics and the environment in his work, in this conversation, we delve into his favourite type of plant, among other things. Hitman Gurung & Sheelasha Rajbhandari discuss the important work they have done in the wake of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake and the ongoing community cultural development that they continue to do for their city. Lantian Xie reflects sensitively on the role of privilege in relation to heat-politics in the gulf, and many more stories fold into the Absolute Humidity volume.