«I worry about it, but I don’t deal with it,» with a quote from his barber, Ferdinando Cotugno ends his article in Rivista Studio on the subject of air pollution, bluntly and sincerely summing up most people’s attitude toward the problem. Poor air quality has been a hot topic since the beginning of the new year, but it is in recent days, especially in Milan and throughout the Po Valley, that it has taken center stage. II data shown are alarming, on social media everyone seems to share the infographics. That deep purple color worries us, especially if we look at the rest of Europe, colored green and blue, even in big metropolises like London and Paris the situation seems to be stable. This does not mean that the rest of Europe-or the world-does better than us, the reason for this substantial difference is geographical conformation, but this does not take away from the fact that the situation is serious and needs to be addressed. The anxiety spread on social media underscores an alarmism from below that does not seem to be picked up by the higher ups. Air pollution, smog, fine particulate matter-as well as climate change more broadly-is certainly not a new issue. It is a decades-old problem that we hide under the doormat, some out of resignation and some out of indifference, to be brought up only when it becomes a trend, perhaps because it is being thrust before our eyes?
In this sense, the infographic plays a crucial role. A visual image can trigger an awareness mechanism, transforming the issue from invisible and imperceptible to tangible and evident. If the visual aspect is crucial in this perspective, who better than art can contribute to spreading it? Besides the graphics circulating on social media, art also attempts to enter this context, though not without difficulties. Searching the web, it’s not easy to come across truly meaningful projects that effectively communicate the environmental issue. A few years ago, Indian writer, journalist, and anthropologist Amitav Ghosh published “The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable,” questioning why contemporary artists find it challenging to address natural disasters. A partial answer comes from the recent exhibition “Everybody talks about the weather” at the Venice venue of the Prada Foundation. Curator Dieter Roelstraete argues that the art world seems to pay little attention to the theme, with everyone talking about the weather except the art world. Or at least, not as it should. In this perspective, Roelstraete insists on the collaboration between science and art, leveraging the aesthetic power of scientific knowledge and the role of contemporary art. The power of metadata and infographics resurfaces. «This exhibition is precious because it could be one of the first of a new generation capable of not stopping at art but of ‘using’ it as an opportunity to address the socio-political inattention of today’s society, which appears as a symptom of the new ‘Don’t Look Up’ syndrome,» referring to the 2021 film by Adam McKay. Nicola Davide Angerame on Artribune comments on the joint effort of art and science in delineating a form of something that does not have one but cannot be ignored. Therefore, now that the problem has a form, will it be addressed, or as in “Don’t Look Up,” will we let the meteorite hit the Earth until it destroys it?
Likely, this last question cannot have a definitive answer. Undoubtedly, many have taken action. While art, with a scientific and documentary approach, tries to convey a message, architecture and design are attempting to respond concretely to the problem. In this third paragraph, we want to be optimistic, presenting some significant examples that inspire hope for a more sustainable future. Considering that over 10% of carbon dioxide emissions come from the construction sector, staying in the Milanese territory makes it impossible not to mention the Vertical Forest and take it as an example of an ongoing progress. «We now know that cities play a significant role in shaping the future of our planet, being responsible for 75% of CO2 emissions. And in cities, we must take action,» explained Stefano Boeri, the architect of the Vertical Forest, in an interview last year during Milan Design Week. «Big cities have the opportunity to become an integral part of the solution to climate change and environmental issues that influence our daily lives, integrating nature, preserving existing greenery, and increasing the number of forests.» Boeri suggests a practice that has gained traction in recent years in design, namely drawing inspiration from nature to find alternative materials. In the past, we have discussed mycelium, one of the most suitable biomaterials to replace fiberglass and concrete, the latter being among the most polluting materials. In this context, it is interesting to mention the Netflix documentary “The Future Of,” which, in Episode 10 (Skyscrapers), envisions a future scenario where skyscrapers will be entirely constructed with living materials that become part of Earth’s metabolism, thereby increasing oxygen production and minimizing waste.
If “The Future Of,” mentions both the Vertical Forest in Milan and the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, the third episode of “Abstract” – also on Netflix – further clarifies our understanding. The protagonist of the episode is Neri Oxman, an Israeli-American designer and former professor known for blending art, design, biology, computer science, and materials engineering. Oxman collaborates with a multidisciplinary team at the MIT Media Lab, with a well-defined vision: to envision a future of complete synergy between Nature and humanity. Her goal is, in fact, to “create new materials for nature, with it, and derived from it,” as seen in the Silk Pavilion, for example. It is a metal structure on which robots – designed by her – wove a silk net, complemented by the presence of over six thousand silkworms acting as “biological 3D printers,” covering the entire structure initiated by the robots until completion.
There are many examples we could bring back from the field of design, but even street art-in its own small way-brings a contribution to fighting pollution. Think of the anti-smog paint used by some, which can absorb fine particulate matter in the air. One of the largest in Europe is in Rome, in the Ostiense district, made by Iena Cruz and absorbs the same amount of smog as a forest of thirty trees. In Milan we bring you an old mural from 2019 by Camilla Falsini in Corso Garibaldi.
Indifference and activism. Two sides of the same coin that characterize the socio-political attitude to a problem more than relevant to our survival. Art, architecture, design try to fit into an environmentalist current and offer alternative solutions, but will they be enough to save us? All we have left is to try to remember this at all times, not just when our algorithm decides so. In this wake critical of ourselves, we close this reflection with a short film by British illustrator Steve Cutts, which in raw, direct language explores the destruction of the environment at the hands of man, perhaps prompting us to take action.
