Tomás Saraceno
Argentina b. 1973

We do not all breathe the same air 2018–ongoing
Air pollution prints; black carbon, soot, PM2.5 filter paper
Courtesy: Studio Tomás Saraceno / Neugerriemschneider, Berlin

Evoking the faint form of distant moons, We do not all breathe the same air 2018–ongoing reveals levels of particulate matter contained in the air we breathe.

Tomás Saraceno redeploys long strips of paper tape produced by machines named Beta Attenuation Mass Monitors (BAM) which measure air pollution over time. The BAM’s vacuum pump pulls a controlled amount of air through filter tape every hour, catching any particulate matter in the process. In lighter and darker grey, these long lines of spheres visualise how uneven the distribution of air quality and particle pollution is across three Victorian locations: inner-city Melbourne (this group); the leafy eastern suburb of Box Hill; and the regional city of Geelong. Different technology is used to monitor this information around Brisbane. Each strip records one dot per hour, 24 dots per day, with variations reflecting the passage from day to night, and from weekdays to weekends.

The differences across city, suburban and regional locales illustrates that the air we breathe is determined by socio-geographic factors, with serious impacts upon our health over time. Depending on where we live, each breath we take is not only crucial to life but might also reduce our lifespan.