Cleanest air in London flows through sensory art installation

Air pollution in major global cities recreated for Somerset House installation, with Norway created using breakthrough nano-carbon filter technology

An innovative sensory installation at Somerset House will allow visitors to experience the cleanest air anywhere in London, from 18th April 2018. The installation, which marks Earth Day 2018, uses technology from Airlabs – a team of atmospheric chemists and airflow engineers dedicated to reducing people’s exposure to air pollution.

In Pollution Pods, artist Michael Pinsky has created a series of geodesic domes whose air quality, smell and temperature accurately recreate the feeling of air pollution of five different locations on three continents: London, Beijing, São Paulo, New Delhi and Tautra, a remote peninsula in Norway. As 92% of the world’s population live in places where air pollution exceeds safe limits, the installation has been commissioned to test whether art can change people’s view of air pollution around the world. Visitors will pass through the climatically controlled pods to compare the quality of global environments.

Airlabs’ pioneering filter technology will allow visitors to experience what it is like to breathe truly clean air within the ‘Tautra pod’ - effectively cleaning the London air of all pollutants. This experience will be contrasted with the metropolises which follow, such as London’s invisible but deadly output of Nitrogen Dioxide and New Delhi’s suffocating haze of airborne particles.

Although it does not meet the WHO’s recommended standard, London’s air is still far cleaner than that of the most polluted city in this group, New Delhi where particle levels at times last year reached over 100x the WHO’s recommended limit. It is estimated that the average Londoner loses 16 months of their life, with a resident of New Delhi cutting their life short by 4 years. Over 50% of children in Delhi have their lungs permanently damaged by air pollution.

Airlabs’ Nano-Carbontechnology is the first method proven to remove high levels of gases alongside all other key pollutants including particulate matter from the air we breathe, in a low energy manner.[4]

Sophie Power, CEO and co-founder of Airlabs commented: “Pollution Pods provides a fascinating experience of the true extent of pollution in our cities. We are excited to showcase our technology to bring truly clean air to visitors. In a city where 16 months are taken off an average person’s life due to the harmful effects of pollution, our technology can be used to improve health from inside buildings and vehicles to cleaning hotspots across the city.”

Michael Pinsky said: “I wanted to test whether art can really change people’s perceptions of, and actions around, climate change. In the Pollution Pods, I have tried to distil the whole bodily sense of being in each place. For instance, being in São Paulo seems like a sanctuary compared to New Delhi, until your eyes start to water from the sensation of ethanol, whilst Tautra is unlike any air you’ll have ever breathed before, it is so pure.”

The effects of the pollution are generated using a combination of techniques including specialist scents, haze machines and appropriate temperature and humidity combinations for each city

Pinsky’s original commission was from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim for Climart and it is the first time that the Pollution Pods will be presented in the UK.