Michael Pinsky, Pollution Pods, 2017, installation. Image courtesy the artist
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This event considers how Michael Pinsky’s installation Pollution Pods creates a virtual environment to expand the sensory experience of the audience. Pinsky makes five interconnected geodesic domes that contain varying levels of ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide to simulate the polluted atmospheric conditions in London, New Delhi, São Paulo and Beijing. Visitors enter the domes and experience the polluted air conditions as they are experienced every day in these cities. The work has been exhibited internationally at Somerset House, London; COP26, Glasgow; COP25, Spain; UN Climate Change Summit, New York; Science Gallery Melbourne; Media City Plaza, Manchester; TED Annual Conference, Vancouver; Place des Nations, Geneva; Klimahaus Bremerhaven, Germany, and Starmus, Trondheim, Norway. Through audience participation and engagement, the artwork provides a platform for the public to make their voices heard on ecological issues and to engage with others to express their commitment to the planet.
About the speaker
Michael Pinsky is a British artist whose international projects challenge the status quo on climate change, urban design and societal wellbeing. He explores issues which shape and influence the use of our public realm to create ambitious and provocative installations in galleries and public spaces. Taking the combined roles of artist, urban planner, activist, researcher and resident, he starts residencies and commissions by working with local people and resources, allowing the physical, social and political environment to define his working methodology.
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His work has been shown at: Tate Britain; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu; Saatchi Gallery; Victoria and Albert Museum; Institute for Contemporary Art, London; La Villette, Paris; BALTIC, Gateshead; Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Modern Art Oxford, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Cornerhouse, Manchester; Liverpool Biennial, Centre de Création Contemporaine, Tours; Armory Center of the Arts, Los Angeles and the Rotterdam International Architectural Biennial.
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Artnet included Pollution Pods in its list of the 100 Works of Art That Defined the Decade. Stir Magazine named the installation in its top ten artworks that stirred the world in 2019. Connaissance des Arts included Pollution Pods in the top 10 artworks which engage with climate change, and BBC Culture featured the installation for Earth Day as one of the best ways to change the world.
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Dr Michael Pinsky graduated from the Royal College of Art. He has received awards from the RSA, Arts Council England, British Council, Arts and Business, and the Wellcome Trust, and his exhibition Pontis was shortlisted for the prestigious Gulbenkian Museums Award.