The fourth session of Taming the Horror Vacui: Time for the Wind inaugurates the specially designed wind tunnel with a lecture and workshop by Prof. Olivier Chazot, Head of the Aeronautics and Aerospace Department at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics.
Wind tunnels are made to model natural phenomena but in order to do so, they create a condition that could exist only in an idealized nature: Laminar flow, or straight-moving air. Taming the Horror Vacui uses the wind tunnel to delve into the paradoxical nature of fluidity and our attempts to order it. By making the movements of fluid visible we can deepen our understanding of how the flow of fluids relate to the flow of time.
In addition to his research on how atmospheric conditions interact with vehicles at high-altitudes and hypersonic speeds, Chazot uses a philosophical approach based on phenomenology to consider the experiences scientific method cannot account for. His lecture will elaborate on the relationship between these two scientific and philosophical viewpoints while his workshop will invite the public to experiment with the wind tunnel and the movement of air and metaphors it contains.
