Haseeb Ahmed – WIND FACE

For The Mastplanters, next to SMAK, 019 presents a flag by Haseeb Ahmed. WIND FACE is linked to Haseeb Ahmed’s ongoing exploration of wind as an inhabited entity.

While observing turbulence patterns in a wind tunnel, Ahmed identified a formation resembling a face, what he calls the face of the wind. This recognition raises a question: if the wind is inhabited, what kind of being resides within it?

Through technological interventions, Ahmed has developed a Wind Avatar, a representation of the world’s winds. By robotically adjusting the angles of a delta wing in a specially designed wind tunnel, the avatar’s facial expressions shift, mirroring human emotions. This system is connected to global weather data, allowing the wind’s “moods” to be monitored and interpreted.

Taking this further, Ahmed collaborated with the Brain and Emotion Laboratory at the University of Maastricht, integrating EEG monitors into the project. This enables the Wind Avatar to express the emotions of those wearing the monitors, effectively allowing them to inhabit the wind. The result is a convergence of art, neuroscience, and fluid dynamics, an attempt to communicate with an elemental force through technological mediation.

More info here

Haseeb Ahmed (b. 1985) is an American artist who lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. He produces objects, installations, and films. His work is often collaborative and draws from the hard sciences, blending art and aeronautics, myth and technology, to create new narratives.

His work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Antwerp, BE) and has been exhibited internationally at the Göteborg Biennial (Göteborg, SE), Museum Bärengasse, (Zurich, CH), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, USA), De Appel (Amsterdam, NL), and the Frestas Triennial (Frestas, BR), amongst others.

Haseeb Ahmed is represented by Harlan Levey Projects (Brussels, BE)