Vortrag: »Air Conditioning« am Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Eva Horn)
Eva Horn: Air Conditioning. A Cultural History of Climate Control
Monthly Lectures, Monday, 24 April 2017, 6:00 pm–7:30 pm, IWM library
Eine Aufzeichnung des Vortrags findet sich hier
Abstract
Air conditioning – the possibility of »fixing« the air’s temperature at will – is one of the oldest dreams of mankind. It means creating a world without heat or cold, rain or snow, without suffocating humidity or dusty winds. Climate control allows for a life without weather, without meteorological contingencies and surprises, extreme weather events, seasonal changes, or locally challenging climate conditions. Air conditioning creates what, by philosophers, geographers, and colonial medecine has long been lauded as a »temperate climate,« a climate adjusted to the culturally determined comfort zone of Northern European bodies. The talk will explore the history of this dream to »adjust the climate« in architecture, urban planning, and art. In order to understand the deeper reasons for anthropogenic climate change, we need to rethink the ways in which we have cut ourselves off the vagaries of the weather.
Solvejg Nitzke · 21. Juni 2017, 11:47 Uhr