An art installation on display this week along the pristine shores of Trondheim, Norway, may change the way you think about pollution and global warming.
The display featured five connected domes or ‘pollution pods’, each mimicking the air quality of a select city.
From New Delhi to Sao Paulo, Beijing, London and Norway’s Tautra Island, artist Michael Pinsky carefully recreated the temperature, smell and quality of the air in each location.
Visitors were invited to experience the stark contrast between the fresh air of the Norwegian coast to the hot, pea-soup pollution of New Delhi.
Aiming to bring together art and science, the installation was part of Climart, a four-year research project investigating how people are affected by climate-related artwork.
Those who visited the installation were asked to complete a survey, which will help analysts to understand the emotional reaction to the piece and whether the art will prompt action.
The results will be published in a paper later this year.
Environmental Psychologist and Project Coordinator Professor Christian Klöckner says research on the influence of art on behavior and decision making has been limited.
“What we expect to see in this project is that art, which is less dogmatic than scientific texts or political discussion, speaks to people on a more emotional level," he told CNN.
But for Pinsky, there’s a deeper hope that his art will affect people’s day-to-day decision making.
“Whilst those in the developed world live in an environment with relatively clean air, people in countries such as China and India are being poisoned by the airborne toxins created from industries fulfilling orders from the West,” his website reads.
“The experience of walking through the pollution pods demonstrates that these worlds are interconnected and interdependent.”
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