I have started exploring an immersive installation approach to the project. The majority of air pollution is invisible, and so I want to make it visible. The first way I thought of doing this was through bubbles. There would be bubble machines which are constantly generating the bubbles in a room with a person inside. This way they are bombarded, and it can be quite overwhelming. I could also fill in the bubbles with smoke. The five air pollutants; nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, oxides, particular matter 2.5 and particular matter 10 would be represented through different coloured smoke. I decided to group PM2.5 and PM10 for convenience and conducted some research on what colours these pollutants are. I concluded that NOx gas is colourless, so it makes sense bubble is not filled. NO2 would be represented with red smoke, O3 with blue smoke and PM would be black/grey.
After having a chat with Oliver, he mentioned that the bubble approach seems very playful and that I shouldn’t aim to make the topic of air pollution fun. Oliver did like the idea to fill in the bubbles with smoke as it adds a ‘pollution’ effect. However, filling a bubble with smoke is very difficult. I've watched many YouTube videos of people demonstrating how to do so. It would require making many contrapments since I would need three colours produced constantly. So, whilst it is feasible, I have decided not to take this approach because of time constraints and skill.
Some more feedback from Oliver was about the data visualisation outcome of the project. He mentioned that it might be interesting to take an image of the bubbles whilst they are in the air. The photo would need to be taken at the right moment. He said I should also make it comparable. Currently I have only collected data from the first three months of 2019 for Elephant and castle. I should collect data for another place so the photos can be compared. I need to think about what goes in the centre of the photo. It could be something that represents the area the data is based off. For example, for Elephant and Castle, the statue could be in the centre. This would be accompanied with bubbles around it.
I then thought about using a paintball gun instead of bubbles however, this does seem quite violent. Finally, I’ve decided to use powder paint. Its easier to control than bubbles and would make for a very interesting slow-motion video. The different coloured powder would be mixed together and dropped over the item all at once.
I have worked out the proportion of air pollution that the pollutants account for, out of 100%. For example, in the first three months of 2019, NOx counted for 34% of total air pollution. NO2 was 22%, O3 was 23% and PM was 21%. In the container that gets released over the item, 34% of it would be white powder, 22% red, 23% blue and 21% black.
I started thinking about how I would present my images. I think it would be best represented in a printed format. Maybe a book which explores air pollution abstractly. I could have a series of images (for the multiple locations), on there own pages with the raw data as well as a short description and some actual data visualisation, such as some charts from R.
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