Polluted Airs
Works in this collection examine the forms, histories, constitutions, ontologies, violences, politics and science of atmospheres in the 20th and 21st century.
Looking back through a history of polluted air on screen, we trace the erosion of breathable environments through the lungs, eyes and voices of those most affected. We also understand the vital role that moving image, media and art play in making invisible threats visible, calling attention to the fight we face for our collective right to breathe.
Explore individual works and our toolkits below, or read more about the whole collection here.
Polluted Air: Toolkit
Clean Air Exercises:
Our teaching toolkits are designed for tutors to use across art, design & media education. The materials have been created for further and higher education environments, but can be adapted for younger learners. Further materials and slides for each exercise can each be downloaded separately. Our explanation for tutors for all the exercises is combined into one easily downloadable toolkit.
A Breathing Glossary
Understanding air pollution requires a knowledge of particulates, toxins, and their emissions sources. Our glossary takes you through some of the basics. We’ve also created some classroom exercises to get you generating conversations with learners to understand what is in the air we breathe..
Our Year in Air
This exercise engages learners in some field work around air pollution. As a collective, students chart the hidden atmospheric territories of their place of study, hometown or surrounds. Along the way, the group document their findings, reflecting through photography, poetry, and illustration. Together they build a collective diary of their year in air.
Start a Seminar
The best way to deepen your understanding of a subject matter is with a good read. We’ve created some group discussion prompts generated from four selected texts, each which looks at a different aspect of air pollution..
Create a Campaign
Protest and Activism has an important role to play in ensuring equitable breathable air for all. This exercise invites learners to understand more about campaign work for clean air. It asks groups of students to come together and contribute to the cause through copywriting, creation and design.
Sacrifice Zones
This exercise asks learners to perform some desk research around sacrifice zones. It asks us: how well do we understand the areas on the planet, beyond our major cities, which are most at risk from air pollution? And what can we do to raise visibility of those living in these regions?
A Planetary Pecha Kucha
The final exercises in our toolkit are designed to provide entry points into the Polluted Air collection of the Planetary Film Archive. Learners are invited to select a work from the archive and provide a rapid summary back to the group.