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Forecasting the Touch of Change (storm glass)


Hand blown glass, oxidising copper, storm glass chemical composition according to the 1859 instructions of Admiral Robert FitzRoy, 2021.


Global winds, toxic flows, warming currents, the many processes of Anthropogenic climate change act within temporal and geographic scales beyond the range of human perception. Forecasting the touch of change (storm glass) reanimates the 19th century Storm Glass, an instrument relied upon by voyaging ships and in seaports to predict future weather. Popularised by Admiral Robert Fitzroy, the Captain of the HSM Beagle, his instructions for reading the instruments evolving crystal structures include; “If the liquid in the glass is clear, the weather will be bright and clear. A cloudy glass with small stars indicates thunderstorms.” This work is in molten dialogue with its atmosphere. The effects of invisible forces evident in the responsive crystal arrangements within the hand blown glass vessel. In our current climate Forecasting the touch of change (storm glass) acts as an instrument for attuning ourselves with the ungraspable forces, intensities and scales of atmospheric change, forecasting what’s to come.












 
I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land I work on and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
Running on Cargo