Turning Southampton’s air pollution data into art

Air Datascape is a ten-month project combining art and citizen science, led by Dr Atsuhide Ito, Senior Research Fellow at Southampton Solent University, and three Solent students and graduates.

Aster Cook, a graduate of BA Hons Prosthetics and Special Effects Design, Sian Chungh, a BA Fine Art graduate recently shortlisted for the Platform Graduate Award 2026, and Agalya Kumaraguruparasharma, a final year BA Illustration student, have all played a leading creative role in shaping the project.

In May 2026, the four carried air pollution sensors with them as they went about their daily lives in Southampton. Atsuhide ran the Southampton Marathon on 3rd May, recording pollution levels every two minutes as he made his way through the city.

Aster, Sian and Agalya walked familiar routes through Southampton, paying close attention to the air around them as they went.

The result is four distinct datasets, each shaped by a different body moving through the same city. Rather than presenting this data as numbers on a chart, each artist has found their own way to translate these invisible fluctuations into something visitors can see, sense and feel. Air pollution becomes an experience rather than a statistic.

Each of the students approached the project with a serious commitment, taking time to consider how the data they gathered could be translated into work that reflected their own personal experience of moving through the city.

The project aims to highlight the differences in air quality experienced across the city, and how those differences can affect people in different ways. It was one of six projects funded through Solent's Advancing Research and Knowledge Fund (ARK).

Dr Francesca Pieropan, Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange, said: "Air Datascape stood out to the panel immediately. Atsuhide has a real gift for bridging different fields, using art to make the invisible visible and, in his own words, more experiential for the public. Seeing the project reach a full public exhibition, with students playing such a leading creative role, is exactly the kind of impact we set up the ARK Fund to unlock."

Dr Kola Adeosun, Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Sport and co-creator of the ARK Fund, added: "As one of the people who helped create ARK, it's brilliant to see a project like Air Datascape go from pitch to reality. It's a great example of the culture of research, innovation and knowledge exchange we want ARK to build."

Air Datascape will be on display at God's House Tower from Thursday 24 to Monday 28 September. The exhibition is free to attend and open to staff, students and the wider public.

A celebration event and workshop will take place on Friday 25 September from 1pm to 3pm. Atsuhide and the participating students will speak at 1.45pm, followed by a workshop from 2pm to 3pm.