Khalil Berro

BREATHE

Generative video work powered by real-time atmospheric data, 10'20'', silent, 2024

From April 29 to June 14, 2026, the Fonds cantonal d’art contemporain is pleased to host the Biennial of Urban Art and Nature (re)connecting.earth on the screens of the Mire program at the Chêne-Bourg and Eaux-Vives train stations!

BREATHE is a generative video work that explores the invisible flow of air on a global scale. Using real-time atmospheric data, it calculates the path of the air breathed by each visitor, reconstructing its trajectory across different regions of the world. These calculations, carried out in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich, reveal flows that are usually imperceptible. Presented as part of the Biennale (re)connecting.earth (03), the work takes the form of a data display on two of the MIRE screens. Viewers can see, in real time, the paths taken by the air they breathe, city by city, region by region. This minimalist, almost discreet installation contrasts with the global scale of the phenomenon it reveals: the air in our lungs can connect us to an oil well in Texas or a forest in Indonesia. By revealing the origin and circulation of air, BREATHE transforms an everyday, unconscious act — breathing — into an experience of planetary connection. Air becomes a conduit for invisible connections between distant territories: the air that enters our lungs may have passed through industrial zones, tropical forests or regions marked by resource extraction. The work thus highlights the interdependence of environments and human activities. Beyond its scientific dimension, BREATHE offers a thoughtful reflection on our relationship with the world. It highlights the permeability of borders and the way in which environmental phenomena transcend geographical and political boundaries. By making visible what usually escapes our perception, Khalil Berro invites us to recognise our place within complex global systems, where every breath connects us across the globe.

Video presented as part of the 3. (re)connecting.earth Biennial, organized by the art-werk association.

Autres artistes à Genève — Eaux-Vives

PROJECTORS IN MAINTENANCE!

Khalil Berro, born in 2003 in Lenzburg, Switzerland, is a Swiss-Lebanese artist who lives and works between Zurich and Bedretto. His practice explores the driving forces and suffering at the heart of the human condition, working at the frontiers of human authority — on the shores of radioactive lakes in Kazakhstan, in abandoned coal mines, and on the fringes of vanishing glaciers. His works oscillate between the highly technological and the dangerously rudimentary. His recent exhibitions include BREATHE at ETH Zurich (2024) and the Modern Art Museum Shanghai (2025), The Fires We Started at Casa Bedretto (2024), and Floral Assembly at Swiss Hanok, Seoul (2023).