Under Pressure

‘Under Pressure’ is a hanging hand-blown glass installation that draws attention to the increasing vulnerability of forests in an era of drought and accelerating climate change. Its form echoes the branching structure of trees. Yet its function references 17th-century pressure barometers, often called storm or weather glasses, which once served as accessible tools for observing and predicting weather shifts.

The installation, shaped like two tree branches, has narrow branches that are open to the atmosphere. Because of this exposure, the work becomes sensitive to fluctuations in atmospheric pressure: when the weight of the air decreases, the water level rises through the slender branches. This simple but expressive movement mirrors the logic of historic barometers, where falling pressure is commonly associated with the onset of unsettled or stormy weather.

In the exhibition space, ‘Under Pressure’ functions as a speculative and responsive weather-forecasting device. It makes tangible the otherwise invisible interplay between indoor conditions and the larger environmental forces outside, offering viewers a subtle reminder of the continuous, and increasingly precarious, exchange between climate systems and the forests they sustain.