Step into The Airarrium and sample the air of the past (and the future)

We don't often think about air, but every time we exhale, we change it. The ever-changing nature of air impacts life on the planet.

Three hundred and fifty million years ago, for instance, megafauna and flora thrived in oxygen levels that were nearly double what they are today.

A mere 100 million years later, the greatest extinction in Earth's history coincided with some of the highest levels of carbon dioxide ever seen on the planet.

Artist Emily Parsons-Lord began thinking about air when she began thinking about what life forms might survive into the future.

'I was doing a lot of work with weeds, because if anything's going to survive, it's weeds. They're geniuses,' she says.

This work led Parsons-Lord to wonder whether or not weeds would survive in the air of the future, and what that air might consist of.

'I was doing these experiments with weeds by changing the air and making futuristic dystopian air.'

So began Parsons-Lord's fascination with the history of air and its relationship with the history of life.

With no background in science, she began researching the balance of gases in air over time.

'One of the most interesting I think is from the Carboniferous period, which is an era of the giants, I like to think of it as when trees invented their own trunks.'

This then led to the idea for The Airarrium. It's kind of like an oxygen bar, but with air from different eras.

'I wanted to know how these airs would make you feel,' she says. 'What do they taste like? How might they affect your body and your consciousness?'

When people visit The Airarrium they can sample air from as far back as 3.5 billion years ago.

So what does old air taste like?

'What a lot of people respond with is a sensation, so you might feel calmer or you might feel a burst of energy, but some of them do have flavours.'

Parsons-Lord says that her favourite airs are the ones that don't taste great but are from really interesting time periods with interesting stories.

'Ones where the sky was yellow and clouds were bright, bright yellow, and the oceans were green.'

She describes her art as an 'activated installation art piece'.

'It's time specific. You have to come in and experience the work and chat with me about it.'

Parsons-Lord describes the air of the future as 'very seductive'.

'It's six times heavier than the air we're breathing, so you can feel it in the bag, it feels heavy ... when you speak your words feel heavy, too, and literally fall to the floor.'

But like many seductive temptations, there is also an ethical dilemma to consider.

'Before you choose whether or not you want to try it you should know that it's a greenhouse gas and is the most potent greenhouse gas that has been tested yet. Its warming potential is about 25,000 times that of carbon dioxide.'

The Airarrium will have a short life at Sydney's Underbelly Arts Festival but might pop up in a neighbourhood near you some time in the future.

And in case you're wondering, Emily has consulted medical experts—no health warnings needed.

Retire to the eclectic environs of The Drawing Room on RN Drive, for music, musings and unexpected conversations.