something very small and very big at the same time in a language you don't speak

B R E A T H E

For the Zendai Museum of Modern Art's 366-day public intervention project, INTRUDE , an retrofitted-oxygen- dispensing three-wheel bicycle was rolled into a busy market area in Shanghai. People could sit in the back of the cart and inhale air free of urban contaminants.

Breathe is an adaption of "Fresh Air Cart," a performance project originally done in 1972 by New York sculptor Gordon Matta-Clark and video artist Juan Downey.
Video documentation

Shanghai air quality on November 6, 2008 (the day the project was executed) Source The chart covers the main pollutants from combustion common in cities. NO2 and SO2 are compounds Nitrogen and Sulfur, respectively, form with Oxygen. Both adversely impact health at extended high levels. PM10 in this chart refers to airborne particulates.
The main sources of primary PM10 are road transport (all road transport emits PM10, but diesel vehicles emit a greater mass of particulate per vehicle kilometre), stationary combustion (domestic coal combustion has traditionally been the major source of particulate emissions in the UK) and industrial processes (including bulk handling, construction, mining and quarrying)." from Pollutant Detail

Breathe -Sarah Lewison with Jay Brown, sponsored by Zendai Museum INTRUDE 366, and with the generous and unwavering support of Lijiang Studio