Ana Mosquera
Breathing Exchange Temporium (B.E.T.)
2023, inflatable vinyl tube, pool noodle, 1680 Denier Ballistic Nylon, hand-printed poly satin, lycra, medical grade latex tubing, neodymium gold magnets, thermal gold blanket, 80” x 106” x 12”
Ana Mosquera’s Breathing Exchange Temporium forebodes mass climate migration in the coming decades and encapsulates life’s precarity on a hotter planet, especially for those less privileged. The device’s dysfunctionality is symbolic: one can either use it as a life raft or suck its stored oxygen, causing the passenger to drown. The piece incorporates textiles that Mosquera hand-printed during a 2022 apprenticeship at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia with imagery that references Venezuela’s collapsed economy. Mosquera herself is a member of the Venezuelan diaspora who has lived and worked in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S.; her work consistently reflects her first-hand experience with life’s precarity and volatility. Her statement on the piece is included below.
Breathing Exchange Temporium (B.E.T): a one-person prototype inflatable vessel for climate migration
by Ana Mosquera
In a not-so-distant future where the relentless waves of hypercapitalism and the consequences of unchecked environmental neglect have transformed our world, the "Breathing Exchange Temporium (B.E.T)" emerges as both a symbol and a speculative exploration of human resilience and adaptation.
Imagine a world where climate migration has become a daily reality. Rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns, and resource scarcity force individuals to seek refuge in the face of a changing landscape. It's within this challenging backdrop that the B.E.T. project takes form—a design fiction that invites us to reflect on the potential future of survival and adaptation.
The B.E.T. is not a vessel in the traditional sense. It's a concept—an imaginative narrative that combines elements of art, design, and speculative thinking. It exists as a portable system, a thought experiment in the form of a tangible prototype that individuals can pack or deploy as needed.
The core of this concept lies in its deliberate complexity. The vessel's construction materials, including lycra, foam, and a non-permeable poly satin textile, may seem counterintuitive, even destined for potential failure. The incorporation of foam materials within its structure deliberately hampers the buoyancy of the inner inflatable tube, simulating the challenges one might face when navigating through a world filled with unforeseen obstacles.
Wrapped in a hand-printed poly-satin textile adorned with intricate patterns and symbols, the B.E.T. serves a dual purpose. It's a canvas for storytelling, where the symbols tell a tale of fraudulent exchange economies that have shaped our world. It's also a form of communication—an attempt to raise awareness and provoke discussion about the societal and environmental issues that have brought us to this point.
But the heart of the B.E.T project lies in its users—the individuals who embark on journeys of resilience, packing, and deploying their portable systems as they navigate a world in flux. This design fiction doesn't offer clear answers or practical solutions. Instead, it sparks conversations about the potential consequences of our actions today and the resourcefulness required to adapt to an uncertain tomorrow.
As we explore the "Breathing Exchange Temporium (B.E.T)" within the realm of design fiction, we encourage you to envision a world where resilience is the currency of survival. It's a world where our collective decisions have led us down a challenging path but where our ingenuity and determination shine as beacons of hope in the face of adversity.