Commentary

The readings highlight the entanglement of climate not only to determine the ecosystem but also
to a broader network of interconnected realms. In both cases, Air being social, dynamic, and
seemingly intangible, shifts attention beyond boundaries rather than its assemblages with various
modalities, which can generate contrasting and untraceable outcomes. In the first case, air
contributes to entwined engagements, while in the other, it is creating transnational tensions.
In one of the reading, author N. Calvillo invites atmosphere as a more-than-humans invention to
architecture and moves its expectation to facilitate socialities  rather than constructing the
social. She demonstrates it through her project ‘Polivagina’ by using air (Helium) as a material
that redefines architectural processes and makes it a ‘cosmopolitan experiment’. This
experimental setup makes architecture performative and non-representational as it embraces
uncertainty.
On the other hand, R. Nixon tries to define ‘occluded relationships,’ taking the insights from
Indra Sinha’s, Animal’s People, on the Bhopal gas tragedy and compares it with the aftermath of
Chernobyl. He tries to signal the chasms mutated by both cases, not only in the environment but
also from social, economic, political, epidemiological and legal perspectives that unfold with
time and contribute to slow violence.