Human Atmospheres is a real-time environment shaped by weather data and human presence.
It was presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos as part of the Arts and Culture program, installed in a central public corridor and later integrated into the opening ceremony. The work runs continuously. It does not loop, and it does not reset. It is always in the process of becoming something else.
The system is driven by live weather data from Davos. Conditions outside directly influence what happens inside the space. Light, density, and movement are constantly shifting. When people enter, the environment changes. Movement introduces pressure into the system. A slow gesture creates a soft drift. Faster motion creates instability. The atmosphere responds, but not in a fixed or predictable way. When the space is empty, the system settles back into a baseline shaped only by the environment. Nothing is replayed. Each moment exists once.
The work is not designed to follow the audience. It receives input and processes it through its own internal logic. Sometimes it amplifies what is happening. Sometimes it softens it. Sometimes it holds its state. This creates a different kind of interaction. You are not triggering effects.
You are entering a system that is already running, and your presence becomes part of its behavior.
There is always a slight gap between action and response. That gap is intentional. It gives the system weight. It feels less like a tool and more like something that exists alongside you.
Davos is not a typical exhibition environment. People are moving constantly, often for only a few seconds at a time. The work had to operate on multiple levels at once. It needed to hold attention immediately, but also reward those who stayed longer. There is no instruction, no interface, no explanation on site. The experience unfolds in layers. First the scale and atmosphere. Then the realization that it is changing. Then the understanding that presence has an effect.
Each person finds their own depth of engagement.
During the opening ceremony, the system extended into a live performance setting.
It was connected to music and responded in real time to sound. The same environment shifted from a public installation into a performative medium. No two moments were identical. The system did not follow a sequence. It adapted continuously to what it received.
In that context, it functioned less as a backdrop and more as a participant.
The work was designed to run without interruption in a high-pressure environment.
It had to remain stable while continuously changing. It had to respond without becoming chaotic. It had to maintain a sense of coherence over time. This required thinking of the work not as a composition, but as a set of conditions. Once those conditions are in place, the system takes over.
Most public artworks are fixed in form. They are installed, and they remain the same. Human Atmospheres take a different approach. It exists as a process. It changes with the environment. It changes with people. It changes over time. This opens a different relationship between the work and its audience. The artwork is no longer something you look at. It is something you are inside of, something that shifts because you are there, but never fully belongs to you.
At Davos, Human Atmospheres became a shared space between data, environment, and human presence. A system that runs, adjusts, and continues.
You enter it for a moment, influence it, and leave.
It carries on.
About this week's guest columnist:
Ronen Tanchum (b. 1987) is a contemporary artist and technologist who explores the intersection of nature, humanity, and artificial intelligence through generative systems and immersive installations. He is the founder of Phenomena Labs, a creative studio that blends fine art with computational design and robotics. In 2025, Tanchum was selected for the OpenAI Alpha Artist Program, where he explored creative frontiers using AI models like Sora. His practice often involves "synthetic nature"—using real-time data and AI to simulate organic growth, decay, and environmental systems.
