The Air We Share

Galway Arts Centre is pleased to announce The Air We Share, a major group exhibition of works developed through a year-long artist residency programme, exploring air quality, climate, and our shared environment through artistic collaboration and community engagement in Galway. 

‘The Air We Share’ brings together the work of artists Christopher Steenson, Leon Butler and the artist collective a place of their own (Sam Vardy and Paula McCloskey) who, over the last nine months have worked with scientists, residents, and community groups to creatively respond to real-world air pollution research and lived experience in Westside, Galway aiming to deepen public understanding of air and its critical role in our shared environment. 

The exhibition will be officially opened on Saturday 16 August 2025 at 2pm by Deputy Mayor of Galway City Alan Cheevers with guest speaker Annie Fletcher, Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. All are welcome to attend.

‘The Air We Share’ brings together a consortium of local partners, which is led by Galway City Council and includes Galway Arts Centre, the University of Galway’s Centre for Creative Technologies, the Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies and the Insight SFI Centre for Data Analytics, Westside Resource Centre, and Galway Culture Company. 

The resulting works featured in the exhibition include; Leon Butler’s “Phosphene” a project that transforms real-time air quality data into sculptural and digital forms, inviting community members to co-design how environmental data is experienced and interpreted; Christopher Steenson’s “Where Does the Body End?” takes the idea of the atmosphere as a physical body to explore how we are connected to the world around us through breath. Incorporating writing, sculpture and kinetic elements, the installation draws on concepts from philosophy and meditation to create an evolving ambient soundscape that responds to live air quality data detected in the gallery; and a place of their own (Paula McCloskey & Sam Vardy) “The 9 Freedoms for the Air” a speculative, collaborative artwork imagining future air rights, developed through participatory workshops with residents, scientists, and legal experts.

The exhibition will be on view from 16 August to 21 September 2025, with a programme of talks, guided tours, and public events taking place throughout its duration.

A very special thanks to collaborators Karena Ryan, Alena Postnikova, Gary Stewart and to the participants The Red Bird Youth Collective  & all the members of the Westside Community who brought their collaborative creativity to the projects. 

‘The Air We Share’ is a recipient of the Creative Climate Action Fund, an initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme, funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. 

For more information please visit www.theairweshare.ie