FRIDAY 28 JUNE 2019

5 – 7pm

Portland Stadium Bowl (then later at The Engine Shed)

Portland, Dorset

 

Artist Michael Pinsky will be exhibiting his internationally acclaimed artwork ’Pollution Pods’ on Portland June 29 to July 01. It’s a thought-provoking piece of art, an immersive installation that simulates the air quality in cities around the world. In a series of interconnecting pods, visitors will feel, taste and smell the toxic environments that are the norm for much of the world’s population.

The recent vocal public outcry about climate crisis has manifested itself in student strikes, walk outs and marches. Our seemingly insatiable desire for consumerism has polluted our landscapes and our oceans. We face one of the biggest catastrophes in our planet’s history. Climate change and environmental destruction are causing mass extinction. The threat to life includes the human species. If we go extinct, we are likely to leave an Earth that is uninhabitable to most lifeforms. So what is the point of art in the face of death? Can art affect political change? Can Art really change people’s perceptions of, and actions around, climate change?

‘It’s hard for us to grasp the magnitude of the climate emergency we face, or how much it will change our daily lives. Art has the capacity to make scientific theory real at a visceral level. ‘Pollution Pods’ for example enables us to feel the effects of air pollution physically in our bodies and stir our emotions. That’s very different from the intellectual experience of thinking about ideas, which can give us abstract knowledge that’s easier to ignore. I believe that all artforms have the potential to help us see deeper and connect us more strongly with reality around us. In these times, the ability of art to tell the truth this way can be truly revolutionary.’ Sara Hudston

Join artists Michael Pinsky, Leni Dothan and Extinction Rebellion activist and journalist Sara Hudston for a lively and incisive discussion. Both artists have made work in response to the ever-increasing threat of pollution, this event includes a tour of ‘Pollution Pods’ and a screening of “Age of Smoke: Painting the Predator” a BatFish Films short documentary directed by Naima Vogt and Martine Stephen, and co-produced by Thais Martin. The film tells the story of Israeli artist Leni Dothan’s year-long collaboration with a team of chemists from University College London (UCL), during which they developed a series of pollution-reactive sculptures to raise public awareness about the danger of pollution in London. The film follows the team from start to finish as they prepare to exhibit ‘The Portland Stone Rehabilitation Centre’ at the 2018 b-side Festival on Portland.

Want to come along but find it hard to get to Portland?

We are laying on a special bus from Weymouth Train Station, spaces still available BOOK NOW