(This is) Air

(This is) Air is a book about one of the defining experiences of life on earth: breathing air. It is about air as matter to be harnessed and protected; air as agent; air as a tool of resistance and disruption. Taking its title from Nic Brunsdon's 2023 National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Architecture Commission of the same name, (This is) Air is a kind of expanded of this timely work. It features documentation of Brunsdon’s final sculpture as well as working materials and conversations that provide insight into the innovative engineering and thinking to which this commission gave rise. Brunsdon’s commission utilises air as a building material to take form as a large sphere structure, morphing and changing throughout the day as it expands and then releases air in a natural rhythm. It reflects on our connection to and dependency on this finite resource whose quality is becoming increasingly affected. An introduction from Jessica Kwok (Storefront for Art and Architecture) explores what it means to breathe in an increasingly toxic world, and suggests that by reframing our understanding of this shared act, we might liberate ourselves in unexpected ways. The book also features a foreword from David Neustein, new writing from Mark Jacques, contributions from curators Dr Timothy Moore and Ewan McEoin and photographs by Benjamin Hosking, together offering timely consideration of urgent ecological, civic and political questions about the act of breathing and the relationship between architecture and experiences of air.