“Affective Atmospheres | Ambient Feedback Ecology” presented by Navab and Foerster

Encompassing a series of experiments with atmospheric scenography the following paper maps out the relationships between different materials and energetic flows as part of a spatial design. These investigations emanate from the assumption that poetic relationships between material and immaterial processes can induce new meaning to the ways we inhabit our environment. In diffusing the boundaries between elemental dependencies connected to water use or airflow and the perceiver, unfolding atmospheric processes on scales that usually remain unnoticed are made sensually perceptible. The focus shifts from the concrete to the in-between. The visualization and enaction of flows that make up our surroundings suggest a greater involvement of oneself with the environment. Through these experiments we demonstrate 1) how spatial continuity can be achieved in relating attributes of dynamic behavior of water, vapor, air, sound, and light to significances in space; 2) that the indifferent role of the human perceiver is challenged in making their impact and responsiveness to the environment part of the spatial composition itself; and 3) how the expressive qualities of atmospheric variables could be used to experience layers of meaning in spaces, that are usually not comprehensible (such as ecological dimensions of water use).