The gift exercise / Invitation 8.4: Nitrogen – Post-growth (Brot aus Luft)

Unlike other lichen species, the yellow lichen benefits from “fertilization from the air” caused by high nitrogen emissions. It has therefore spread particularly in regions with intensive agriculture or heavy traffic and is therefore used in research as a bio-indicator for air pollution.

The respirator mask almost completely covered by yellow lichen is worn for protection against harmful nitrogen vapors and has been used by the artists during their research. “Brot aus Luft” (Bread from air) is an advertisment-slogan for the Haber-Bosch process, the industrial method for extracting nitrogen from the air that has turned this element into an environmental threat. Accordingly, this slogan aquires a double meaning here, as it could also refer to the spread of the yellow lichen.

Thus, the yellow lichen not only symbolizes one of the most pressing environmental problems, but also the increasingly apparent interdependencies between human and non-human actors in the context of climate change. Facing this reality, Willimann/Arai’s work points to our scope for agency by opening up spaces for imagination in which different – not only dystopian – narratives of the future can unfold.