This multimedia video installation features abstract, geometric colors and shapes generated from realtime air quality data (AQP API) using video mapping to display the data. The audience can search for specific cities and dates of air quality records using custom software installed in a touchscreen.

As the pollution index of a particular location changes, the colors change over time in synchronicity with the air quality.

Video mapped onto 3-dimensional geometric wall tile, the effect is to be elegant, soothing, and beautiful. However, at the most extreme end of the air pollution index the shapes themselves “jump” and “twist” out of place chaotically.

I want to link the representation of an inhospitable environment to an aesthetically pleasing event. As the planet rushes to a catastrophic and irreversible climate crisis, we should all experience it as something beautiful, superficial, and without consequence.

I used 3D Studio Max to build 3d tiles at the exact same dimensions as generic decorative wall tiles, then brought it into Unity3D to do the animation and shader control for the color shift.