ABSTRACT
This chapter presents and analyzes ten temperature artifacts collected for this volume. Methods of collection, curation, and interpretation are discussed. Some of these artifacts are electronic, some analog. Some refer to present temperatures, some to near-future. These temperatures appear on billboards, at bus stops, on TVs, and atop buildings. These artifacts are analyzed through a process of semiotic stratigraphy. How is the motion of particles (temperature as defined in thermodynamics) converted into a numerical symbol? This endeavor encompasses several scales, examining how the molecular scale is incorporated and entangled with the materiality of commercial capitalism, fashion, and advertising. To this end, the companies, the profits, the commodities, and the politics that are involved in thermal semiotic events are examined. This chapter offers an in-depth look at the mechanics of temperature production, but is also a work of aesthetic and architectural critique as it discusses the impact of quantification on the built environment drawing from the subfield of geosemiotics.
