Weather Forecasting

It is miraculous how the sun in our solar system beautifully interplays with water in all its forms on Earth to bring a variety of life-forms and the very conditions necessary for life itself. Here on Earth we humans feel impelled to predict and to prepare. Will it rain tomorrow? Should I bring a jacket along? Looking at the sky, how can we predict the weather? How far and beyond the clouds and past the stratosphere should we probe to obtain relevant climate data? How much can we learn about the past from weather fluctuations? How profound is our knowledge of the correlations of energies and forces in the universe with the climate? Is our technology sophisticated enough to accurately measure the data and really make sense of it? Do we understand the relationship between air pressure on our bodies and the forces that have kept planets, stars, and galaxies swinging for billions upon billions of years?

Every humble measurement and prediction itself is a single solid stroke of the sketch of an ever-moving figure. I feel rather small thinking about this, but also feel a certain bliss having the chance to experience this grand world and its vital impulse. This project starts with some of da Vinci’s weather notes, and studies in meteorology and paleoclimatology, while various forms of water are at play, leading us to experience the grand universe through the very small and close to us.

古今中外，量度氣象變化、預測天氣，均是涉及民生、經濟、資源分佈的重要課題。遙望天際，探取資訊，大氣以外的無盡宇宙，可量可觀的，盡為考察。縱有幾百萬年的氣象數據，是否足夠我們了解偌大宇宙間的星系引力對地球的氣象影響？萬丈之外，太陽底下，幻化成不同形態動態的水，每天在地球上演活生命的韻律。明天會否下雨？這個問題，真的答不準。作品《氣象預測》，記錄着我對達文西的氣象筆記、氣象學與古氣候學研究的讚嘆與反思，以水滴引路，從微小之中感受宏大。