MELTING POINT

I wish I did not know this scale so well. Living in British Columbia, Canada, checking the air quality around me has become part of everyday life. I remember a time, not very long ago, when summer was simply summer. Increasingly, it feels as though we have acquired a fifth season: fire season.

It is devastating to see how many places around the world are affected, and how something that once seemed distant has become increasingly close to home.

Melting Point visualizes the entropy of our environment through the universally understood form of a melting ice cream cone. The work moves through the six official Air Quality Index (AQI) colors, progressively losing its form as conditions shift from Green (Good) to Maroon (Hazardous). What begins as an intact object gradually tilts, collapses, and dissolves. It is a literal meltdown of our atmospheric stability.

AQI is not represented by the artwork. AQI determines the artwork’s condition.