Opening Reception: Friday, September 3, 5-9 pm

1708 Gallery is excited to announce Interior Weathers, an immersive sound and sculptural exhibition by Haseeb Ahmed. Central to Interior Weathers is the flow, temperature, and humidity of air within 1708. Ahmed’s immersive installation will initiate a cascade of chaotic but subtle atmospheric events. This weather system is produced by air quality control sensors that manipulate climate control appliances and 1708’s air conditioning system. A polyrhythmic spoken and sound composition, produced in collaboration with musicians Heavy Color, will accompany the installation as a sensorial guide. Interior Weathers draws the link between the body and building as breathing systems and to the cultural significance of breath itself.

The movement of air exemplifies the myriad of phenomena that arise in natural systems as they exist in a state far from equilibrium—for instance, the automatic regulation of body temperature or the emergence of the vortex of a hurricane. In Interior Weathers, air is an artistic medium and a mediator—it carries meaning as much as it determines the respiratory parameters of one’s ability to experience the exhibition. Museums and galleries usually attempt to nullify fluctuations in weather happening outside, however, Ahmed applies circulation, temperature change, and the molecular phase transitions of air to create a chaotic interior weather system. Ahmed’s use of household machines, pre-existing infrastructure, and sound gesture towards the development of a techno-poetics between the quotidian technological surrounds of modern society and the sublime, ineffable nature of air and wind.

Haseeb Ahmed (b. 1985, US) is a research-based artist living and working in Brussels, Belgium. He produces objects, site-specific installations, and films, and writes for various publications. His work is often collaborative and draws on tools and techniques from the hard sciences to produce artworks. Ahmed received his Masters in Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in sculpture and architecture. As a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academy (Maastricht, NL), Ahmed won the Designers and Artists 4 Genomics Award with his work "The Fishbone Chapel" and initiated the project "Has the World Already Been Made?" with Daniel G. Baird, which has been exhibited internationally, including at the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA, Göteborg, SE). The trilogy of exhibitions surrounding his work "The Wind Egg" culminated with a solo exhibition at the M HKA, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (BE), curated by Nav Haq and the conclusion of his PhD in practice-based art from the University of Antwerp. Ahmed recently exhibited work at M HKA, Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (BE) and ArtLab EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH) and is in residency at Science Gallery Venice (IT). In 2021, Ahmed will be exhibiting work in the Frestas Triennial (Frestas, BR), Fotograf Festival (Prague, CZ), CURRENT festival (Stuttgart, DE) and BANG Festival (Leuven, BE).

Special thanks to Pieter Heremans, Jan Huygh of Atelier Vilvoorde, Harlan Levey Projects, and Petra Lafond, Hernan Vasquez, Ilias Kalisperakis and Panagiota Stamatopoulou of Up2Metric as part of a Mindspaces artist residency from the EU Science Technology and Arts (STARTS) initiative.