The artist behind the King's Cross pollution pods which emulate the air of four cities, has emphasised the important role of art and culture in creating climate consciousness.

British artist, Michael Pinsky, was commissioned by a team of Norwegian scientists to create the installation which challenges people's perceptions of the air we breath, in London and elsewhere.

Islington Gazette: Pollution Pods by artist Michael Pinsky in Granary Square, King's CrossPollution Pods by artist Michael Pinsky in Granary Square, King's Cross (Image: © John Sturrock)

The collaboration resulted in five interconnected geodesic domes which reproduce the air composition of four cities with compromised air quality, and one with clean air.

The visitor’s experience in the pods begins with air replicating coastal Norway. They then walk through increasingly polluted pods imitating the air quality of London, New Delhi, São Paolo and Beijing.

The pods had around 13,000 visitors when they were set up at King’s Cross in October.

Mr Pinsky said: “London was incredible. It opened at 12 o’clock and there would already be 40 or 50 people waiting to come in. That was the level of enthusiasm we had.”

The domes were then taken on the road to Birmingham, Sheffield, Lancaster, Newcastle and Glasgow in time for COP26.

“There was a very nice tweet I saw of someone in Glasgow saying, ‘I’ve learnt more about air pollution in 15 minutes than I’ve learnt in my whole life going through the pods.’ That’s really satisfying to read something like that.”

“What now needs to change aside from the political world, is on a societal level. We need to change a culture. One of the very effective ways to change a culture is with culture.

“We don’t need to drive in cities- that’s a cultural phenomenon. It’s similar to smoking, it used to be cool to smoke and then it became culturally unacceptable to smoke and it starts to disappear. So, things like driving or working or investing in a company that is clearly polluting and using fossil fuels need to become culturally unacceptable.

“There is not a real understanding of what culture is and how important it is in changing people’s perception on what is acceptable and what they should do next. This is where artists and filmmakers come in and they have a really big role to play here.”