About Irene Kopelman's research

The IAS Residency will be my first focused attempt to advance my dust research by allowing the required time, space, and scientific expertise to uncover new insights. Working closely with the IAS community can help grow my research on dust as we develop together a deeper understanding of dust and its role in human-natural systems at local and global scales in the late Anthropocene.

In my view, interdisciplinarity foregrounds liasing with the research community, staying in the field long enough to develop content, and identifying opportunities for methodological and experimental exchanges. During my time at IAS, I will consolidate my existing network of collaborators while expanding it with the IAS network, thus increasing the scope of the research topic and its potential.

The main purpose of my research is to visually – through drawing and painting – explore the intrinsic aspects of dust transmission. Combining a range of graphic data observations, analytical measurements and numerical models with the crucial role of imagination and play, I will create a series of artworks that depict the optical properties and mineral compositions of dust. This will render my research visible and accessible for a wide audience, which could take the form of an exhibition, a publication, and public programming in the future. With the help of the IAS community, I hope to unlock the creative and symbolic potentials of dust by employing an integrated approach to the subject that addresses the ecological crisis and the associated vulnerability contagion we are currently facing.