with Granite City Arts and Design District, a project of fort gondo compound for the arts

Awkward moments of asking people to share stories of when they remembered the air are met by awkward moments of their telling. These recorded conversations are available to the public on tandem bikes. As riders coordinate a ride around the city, the back rider listens to the spoken conversations while the front rider leads. Speech as a form of air is combined on each bike with windsocks that visually register currents. As the bike becomes mobile, pedaling powers the sound devices and the riders feel the wind on their faces.

Windsocks are used in industrial areas to communicate which way the wind is blowing and, in case of emergency, to know which way is upwind. These are common to Granite City and their presence in this project connects the new Granite City Art and Design District to their surroundings. This project investigates air as an invisible substance that is shared by all living things and brings with it specifics of a landscape.