"This Place Has Its Own Air" Data-Driven Video-Installation

Research & Interaction Design: Dr Polina Zioga and Dr Catherine M. Weir.
Producing & Animation: Dr Polina Zioga.
Programming & Visual Effects: Dr Catherine M. Weir.

Aims
This Place Has Its Own Air is a site-specific data-driven video-installation and proof of concept for urban air quality data visceralisation. The project focuses on the quality of the air we breathe, and the air pollution of our environment, which are inextricably linked. Air pollutants can spread across long distances and are principally the products of combustion from space heating, power generation or from motor vehicle traffic. They are monitored and regulated, as they can cause both short- and long-term negative health effects. However, despite recent improvements, air pollution remains the biggest environmental threat to health.

The title of the video-installation is based on the seminal memoir The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd (1893-1981), a Scottish writer and poet, and is concerned with the effect of the city’s air on the body. It consists of an animated moving image, which expands and contracts, as if breathing, following the human adult respiratory rate. It is created using readings of the city’s pollutants to generate a colour filter, while a particle system appears and overlays different parts of the image, as the concentration of hazardous pollutants rises and falls throughout the day. As a result, the installation aesthetically immerses the viewers, enables them to have a glimpse of the air they breathe, and increases their awareness of the need for reducing environmental pollution. It premiered in SPARK Festival 2024 ‘Healthy Futures’, in partnership with the Clean Air Network (CAN), and the British Council Hong Kong.

Methods
Data Visceralisation, Human-Computer Interaction, Interactive Media, Interactive Video, Processing.

Awards and Support
- British Council Hong Kong Grant and Commission for SPARK Festival 2024 ‘Healthy Futures’.

Exhibitions, Lectures and Talks
- Zioga, P. and Weir, C. M. (2024) This Place Has Its Own Air. [Data-driven video-installation, dimensions variable, colour, audio mute]. In: SPARK Festival 2024 ‘Healthy Futures’. AIRSIDE, Hong Kong, 18-20 October 2024.
- Zioga, P., Weir, C. M., Fung, P. and Ip, T. (2024) Breathing Cities: Art, Architecture, and Air. [Talk]. In: SPARK Festival 2024 ‘Healthy Futures’. AIRSIDE, 19 October 2024.
- Zioga, P., and Weir, C. M. (2023) ‘This Place Has Its Own Air’: A Proof of Concept for Urban Air Quality Data Visceralisation. In: DCAC 2023 5th International Conference on Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges. Corfu, Greece & Online, 12-13 May 2023.

Creative Outputs
- Zioga, P., and Weir, C. M. (2023) This Place Has Its Own Air. [Data-driven video-installation, dimensions variable, colour, audio mute].

Press Articles & Interviews
- Guolong, H. (2024) Large-scale interactive art reveals Hong Kong’s air quality problems, making invisible pollution visible (in Chinese). Interview with Polina Zioga and Catherine M. Weir. Interviewed by He Guolong for HK01, 17 October.
- Dang, D. (2024) Wellness fest to spark creativity. Interview with Polina Zioga and Catherine M. Weir. Interviewed by Disu Dang for The Standard, 3 September.