Published: March 2024

Keywords:
Efrossini Moureli, Graham Stevens, Homo, Identity, Homo Sapiens, Homo Suicida, Mass Extinction.

Abstract

Various names were given to the ancestors of the human race: Homo habilis, the capable one; Homo erectus, the one who walks upright; Homo neanderthal. The term representing modern humans is Homo sapiens, the rational one. The 6th mass extinction we are facing will determine whether we are still Homo sapiens or Homo suicida.

Graham Stevens

Graham Stevens read climate science under Prof J. K. Page, author of 'Climate in Towns', Research Note for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of 1959. He invented 'Desert Cloud' solar flight in 1968, with an artificial cloud operating entirely on solar energy and condensing water from the atmosphere - explored as the first film on global warming in 1974, now in the Permanent Collection of the George Pompidou Centre in Paris with drawings of some other inventions/artworks such as the 'Bouncy Castle' [1966], 'Waterbed' [1966] and 'Beanbag' [1966]. (https://www.designboom.com/category-banner/aerodream-exhibition-history-of-inflatables-centre-pompidou-metz-07-05-2021/).

"FILM - GRAHAM STEVENS - MATTER, ENERGY & INFORMATION - WEDNESDAY 03 FEBRUARY, 7.00PM, CINÉMA 2, LEVEL -1 - IN THE PRESENCE OF GRAHAM STEVENS.

The English artist Graham Stevens (1944) has turned air into an artistic medium and made the symbiosis between art and science an essential element in the formulation of an environmental utopia. In the 1970s, he made the films Atmosfields (1971) and Desert Cloud (1974) to document and promote his ephemeral inflatable sculptures. At the crossroads of engineering, architecture and ecology, the work of Graham Stevens fully deploys its experimental vocation to the benefit of an artistic practice motivated by the idea of placing art once again in dialogue with the environment.

Graham Stevens, Atmosfields, 1971, 16mm, colour, sound, 21.24min (vo)

Graham Stevens, Desert Cloud, 1974, 16mm, col, sound, 17.17min (vo)

Graham Stevens, Hajj Walkway Shade Structure, 1983, 16mm (transferred to digital), col, sound, 17 min (vo)".

(http://aparpa.eklablog.com/graham-stevens-matiere-energie-information-3-02-2016-a120662306).

Graham Stevens is currently working on 'Carbon Cloud' [2012], which condenses carbon from the atmosphere.

In 2016, the European Union Joint Research Centre designated him a SciArtist Expert'.

grahamstevens@hotmail.co.uk

Efrossini Moureli

Psychiatrist, group analyst, psychotherapist, efros@otenet.gr