As the Air Becomes Explicit and the Essay Grows into a Succession of Images

The vertical dimension where our life support system resides is not only fragile but also signals unequal power relations and serves as a backdrop for neocolonial dreams of occupation and exploitation. How, then, can we build knowledge about this contested space that simultaneously combines the production of (counter)concepts, propositions, and affects? This lecture focuses on an interdisciplinary investigation of air space and the artistic methodology being applied to it. In a first step, the artistic medium used—the audiovisual essay—will be clarified through a series of possible definitions. Next, the research process, as well as the aesthetic, narrative, and formal decisions made, will be presented in order to give an overview of how the resultant essay film is being built. Ultimately, this lecture offers a practical examination of Enar de Dios Rodríguez’s research-based artistic approach, while diving into her current topic of inquiry and embracing the research potentials of its audiovisual essay format. Enar de Dios Rodríguez is a visual artist whose interdisciplinary and research-based projects reflect upon the production of space and its sociopolitical and environmental consequences.