Tear gas clouds spread poison where we gather, bomb clouds vaporise buildings, chemical weapons suffocate entire neighbourhoods and air pollution targets the marginalised. Our air is weaponised. Our clouds are toxic.Cloud Studies includes the first phase of a major new Forensic Architecture investigation, commissioned for the Festival by the Whitworth and MIF, on environmental racism along the banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana. Here, majority-Black communities whose ancestors were enslaved on these grounds breathe the most toxic air in the US – leading to the region’s nickname, ‘Cancer Alley’.
Forensic Architecture is a research agency of architects, artists, filmmakers, journalists, lawyers, scientists and software developers that investigates state and corporate violence. Cloud Studies is their first exhibition in Manchester.
You can also experience Cloud Studies online via MIF Live during MIF21 – details to follow.
Commissioned and produced by the Whitworth, The University of Manchester and Manchester International Festival.
Image credit: Courtesy of the artist
Event Venue
The Whitworth, Oxford Road, Manchester, United Kingdom
Tickets