Nancy D Valladares

The Density of Breath




Year: 2020
Length: 13 min.


Shot with an electronic microscope,The Density of Breath is a meditation on vegetal agency, plant exchanges and botanical representation. Millions of years after seeds learned to move in the currents of the ocean and the wind, to float on water and air, to become the first stowaways and hitchhikers, human colonial networks of exchange were strengthened as maritime travel developed. In pursuit of plant matter and the expansion of the human visual apparatus, technologies of plant transportation and representation marked a pivotal ecological and cognitive shift in various geographies around the globe. Self-titled naturalists and explorers like Alexander Von Humboldt became the de-facto authors of western botanical history.

And yet, we know that history can be traced through other paths, agencies and lenses. What do seeds know about the flavor of the atmosphere; about the texture of the air and its currents, about its ebbs and flows? 

PREVIOUS SCREENINGS:

(upcoming)
Screening at Vespers, experimental music concert series,  at Dreamsong Gallery, Minneapolis.
Organized by Andy Greydon

The Tactical Gardens - Chemical (Re)actions
Screened at Goethe Institute Chicago, curated by Joshi Radin and Alberto Ortega

Tempo Falacioso; Superimposiciones Botánicas
Screened at Sin Cinta Previa x Chuquimarca Projects

Who Feels At Home In The Invisible World
Presented by the Program in Art, Culture and Technology at MIT