Mobilised by state and corporate powers, toxic clouds colonise the air we breathe across different scales and durations. Repressive regimes use tear gas to clear democratic protests from urban roundabouts. Carcinogenic plumes of petrochemical emissions smother racialised communities. Airborne chemicals such as chlorine, white phosphorous, and herbicides, are weaponised to displace and terrorise. Forest arson in the tropics creates continental-scale meteorological conditions, forcing millions to breathe toxic air.
It is a basic principle of forensics that, between solid objects, “every contact leaves a trace”. By contrast, clouds are the epitome of transformation, their dynamics governed by nonlinear, multi-causal logics. This condition was apparent throughout the history of painting, when clouds, moving faster than the painter’s brush could capture them, needed to be imagined rather than described.
Clouds are always double. Seen from the outside they are measurable objects, seen from within they are experiential conditions of optical blur and atmospheric obscurity. Today’s clouds are both environmental and political. Their toxic fog is easily surrounded by lethal doubt. When denialism obscures acts of violence and compounds the harm, we, the inhabitants of toxic clouds, must find new means of resistance.
Project credits
Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, investigating human rights violations including violence committed by states, police forces, militaries, and corporations. FA works in partnership with institutions across civil society, from grassroots activists through legal teams, to international NGOs and media organisations, to carry out investigations with and on behalf of communities and individuals affected by conflict, police brutality, border regimes and environmental violence.
Project team:
Eyal Weizman, Samaneh Moafi, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Sarah Nankivell, Mark Nieto, Maksym Rokmaniko, Christina Varvia, Francesco Sebregondi, Shourideh C. Molavi, Stefan Laxness, Grace Quah, Jason Men, Nichola Czyz, Nabil Ahmed, Paulo Tavares, Olukoye Akinkugbe, Lola Conte, Robert Trafford, Martyna Marciniak, Manuel Correa, Dimitra Andritsou, Omar Ferwati, Ariel Caine, Nour Abuzaid, Sanjana Varghese, Ayana Enomoto-Hurst, Ana Lopez Sanchez-Vegazo, Caterina Selva, Jacob Bertilsson, Nicholas Zembashi, Nicholas Masterton, Tom James, Giovanna Reder, Tamara Z. Jamil, Lachlan Kermode, Alican Aktürk, Ronni Winkler, Robert Krawczyk, Will Scarfone, Nick Axel, Camila E. Sotomayor, Vere Van Gool, Jacob Burns, Hania Halabi, Gustav A. Toftgaard, Dorette Panagiotopoulou, Rosario Güiraldes, Susan Schuppli, Ana Naomi de Sousa, Kishan San, Davide Piscitelli, Mhamad Safa, Sabine Saba, Sergio Beltrán-García, Nathan Su, Elizabeth Breiner.
Cloud Studies Archive
P4 (White Phosphorus):
The Use of White Phosphorus in Urban Environments
(27.12.2008–18.01.2009)
C3H8NO5P (Glyphosate):
Herbicidal Warfare in Gaza (2014–ongoing)
CO (Carbon Monoxide):
Ecocide in Indonesia (1996–2015)
Intentional Fires in West Papua (2011–2016)
PM2.5 (Particulate Matter):
Environmental Racism in ‘Death Alley’, Louisiana (1718–ongoing)
CH4 (Methane):
Oil and Gas Pollution in Vaca Muerta (2013–ongoing)
C10H5CIN2 (Tear Gas):
Tear Gas in Plaza de la Dignidad (20.12.2019)
Triple-Chaser (25.11.2018)
H2O (Water):
The Grenfell Tower Fire (14.06.2017)
The Beirut Port Explosion (04.08.2020)
CI (Chlorine):
Chemical Attack in Khan Sheikhoun (04.04.2017)
Chemical Attack in Douma (07.04.2017)
Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror (2015-ongoing)
CaO (Cement):
The Bombing of Rafah (08.07.2014–26.08.2014)