‘Human Sensor LDN’ by artist Kasia Molga, is a large-scale digital and performance artwork that explores Londoners’ daily exposure to air pollution through a combination of cutting-edge wearable technology and dance. Wired up to a series of breathing and air pollution data sensors, the dancer’s costumes illuminate in a real-time response to pollution levels – pulsing with their breath and movements. As they travel along the space – the fluctuation in pollution influences the colours and configurations of light on the wearable, which fades in and out with dancer’s inhalations and exhalations.

Pollution, lack of greenery and traffic congestion, are all environmental factors that impact negatively on Londoners’ day-to-day existence and long-term health. A recent study by King’s College London revealed that nearly 9,500 people die a year as a result of air pollution in London alone, with the World Health Organisation estimating a cost £54 billion to the UK economy in the last year.

The ‘Euston Green Link’ part of The Euston Wellbeing Walk connects Euston Station and Regents Park, offering a lower-exposure route that avoids Euston Road and instead meanders through a fascinating independent business community with aromatic Indian cuisine, pubs, lunch time deals and other amenities. The project will inject the route with leafy green infrastructure, public art initiatives and way-finding.

Artist, Kasia Molga, worked closely with Ricardo O’Nascimento and Erik Overmeire to develop the costumes and was also supported by Environmental Health scientists from King’s College London.

For ‘Under Her Eye’ 2018, the ‘Human Sensor LDN’ performance started on Euston Road, with the dancers moving through the Euston Town BID’s ‘Euston Green Link’, stopping and performing at key viewpoints, ending with a final performance near Regent’s Place.

For ‘Human Sensor LDN’, Molga reconfigured her powerful performance ‘Human Sensor’ first created in Manchester in 2016. The artwork is commissioned and produced by Invisible Dust in partnership with Euston Town BID as part of ‘Under Her Eye’. The artist worked closely with Ricardo O’Nascimento and Erik Overmeire to develop the costumes and was also supported by Environmental Health scientists from King’s College London.

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Part of ‘Under Her Eye: Women and Climate Change.’

Header image: © Kasia Molga, Human Sensor LDN, 2018, photo credit Angela Dennis courtesy of Invisible Dust.