Tacita Dean & others @ Wellcome Collection

The exhibition, In the Air, explores the relationship between the air and earth, from 3.5-billion-year-old fossilised bacteria that first introduced oxygen into the atmosphere to delicate porcelain sculptures of the glaciers that provide a record of the air and our impact on it. It charts the history of activism against pollution from 17th-century accounts of coal smoke in London to contemporary protests against levels of toxic air that disproportionately impact communities of colour in our cities. Immersive and imaginative film installations introduce us to magnified versions of the particles that occupy our air; reveal the ways that air is weaponised across the world – but also reconnect us to the healing properties of fresh air.

The air we share is investigated through the work of Tacita Dean, David Rickard, Dryden Goodwin,  Anna Atkins,  Irene Kopelman, Ernst Haeckel, and John Evelyn.