Eva Horn is professor of modern German literature and cultural history at the University of Vienna and the founding director of the Vienna Anthropocene Network. She is the Max Kade Visiting Professor in UC Berkeley's Department of German in Fall 2024.

The modern definition of climate as “average weather” has erased an age-old sensorium that cultures had towards their surroundings, most specifically the air — be it hot or cold, clean or miasmatic. In her talk, Horn addresses some of the historical aspects of this ancient, “elemental” understanding of air and climate. Tracing the ways in which air has been forgotten in the modern age, she argues for a renewed attention to, and nuanced understanding of, the atmosphere(s) that surround us.

Her talk is held in conjunction with the Townsend Center's 2024 Collaborative Research Seminar on “Rethinking Futures."