Atmospheric Forces is a new art-work by Sheila and artist Sue Palmer, currently in development and opening in May 2025 in Reading.

A performance along a table

A show and talk

A long table

Underneath, an archaeology, of sorts

Objects are assembled, time and space fold

The sea rises, the sea falls

Vapour.

In this new art-work, artists Sheila Ghelani and Sue Palmer, turn over the interconnections between climate and geology, fuel and feelings, the strata and layers of atmospheres through performance and action.

Everything we make is from the earth and will go back to it

Performances in 2025

Saturday 17 May | 2.00pm to 4.00pm | South Street Arts, Reading – Info and Book Tickets

Tuesday 17 June | 7.30pm – 9.30pm | Silk Mill Studios, Frome, Somerset – Book Tickets

Thursday 19 June | 7.00pm – 9.00pm | Customs House Exeter, as part of PILE UP! – Book tickets

Autumn – Loughborough, East Midlands hosted by Radar/LUArts

Running order:

– Arrive, looking and reading

– Sue and Sheila’s performance along a table

– A conversation between the artists and two invited guests from other fields, ranging from scientists to local historians, from artists to activists

– The event will include a break, and a drink.

Sue and Sheila have previously collaborated on Common Salt, a show and tell about empire, nature and memory, and this new piece builds on their practice and performance work.

“As artists, our work is shaped by the journey we take as we create the work - through the research, conversations and exchange with people and materials along the way. Conceived as a sister piece to Common Salt, this new work builds on our practice and enquiry.”

Atmospheric Forces has been made through a series of week-long residencies in four locations: UAL Wimbledon College of Arts (School of Performance and CCW Research), Somerset Earth Sciences Centre, University of Reading’s Department of Film, Theatre & Television in partnership with South Street Arts and Radar/LUArts in Loughborough.

Sheila and Sue share Atmospheric Forces in Reading, Exeter, Somerset and Loughborough in 2025.

The project is supported by Arts Council England, UAL: Wimbledon College of Art & Radar/LUArts Loughborough, Arts Committee University of Reading, and Attenborough Arts Centre Leicester.

Associate Producer – Sally Rose

Marketing / Print Design – John Hunter

Responder / Outside Eye – David Williams

Atmospheric Forces – origins and beginnings

The initial development of Atmospheric Forces began in 2020 through University of Reading’s ‘Work in Progress’ – a joint project between Reading’s Department of Film, Theatre & Television and South Street Arts, funded by Arts Council England. Atmospheric Forces is the second in the Elemental quartet of works in development by Sheila.

Impacted by the Covid pandemic from 2020 to 2021, the residency development took place largely online. In their research, Sheila and Sue connected with academics and researchers in Meteorology, Architecture and Design at Reading, and curated an online public event in June 2020. The artists invited guest speakers to respond to the question ‘Atmospheric Forces – what does this mean to you?’ as well as presenting their own research:

Jane Trowell – Art educator, curator and environmental justice activist, who works with arts-activist research organisation Platform London (UK)

Deepa Bhasthi – Writer and Farmer (India)

Andrew Charlton-Perez – Associate Professor in the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading (UK)

Harshavardhan Bhat – PhD Researcher with the Monsoon Assemblages project at the University of Westminster (India)

Marlene Creates – Environmental artist artist working with the boreal forest, climate and weathering in a 6-acre patch of old-growth Boreal forest on the island of Newfoundland, the ancestral unceded homelands of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk (Canada).

Ollie Douglas – Curator of MERL Collections, University of Reading (UK)

A work in progress was then shared in October 2021 around the campus at Reading, including the MERL, for students and staff, continuing to open up the themes of nature, colonialism, memory and connectivity.