Breathing is often understood as a deeply personal and automatic act. Yet the air we inhale is shaped by forces far beyond individual control. Pollution, infrastructure, industrial systems, transport networks, and environmental policy all determine the quality of the atmosphere around us. Our group project, Breathing Is Not a Choice, was developed as an interactive installation that transforms invisible air pollution into a bodily and sensory experience. Rather than presenting environmental data through charts or statistics alone, the installation invites visitors to feel how unequal atmospheric conditions affect the body, encouraging reflection on air as a shared and politicised resource.
Project Concept
The project began with a simple but urgent question: if breathing is essential for life, why do so many people have no control over the quality of the air they breathe?
Air pollution is often discussed through numbers such as AQI levels, carbon emissions, or concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO₂). While such measurements are important, they can feel distant and abstract. Our aim was to make these invisible systems immediate and experiential. We wanted visitors to recognise that breathing is not purely individual, but connected to wider social, economic, and political structures.
The project was influenced by two precedent works. The Breathing Game by Rohan Kakad imagines air as a commodified resource distributed through competition, exposing environmental inequality. Air of the Anthropocene by Aerocene Foundation translates pollution data into visible forms, revealing the presence of contaminated atmospheres. Inspired by these approaches, our installation sought to move beyond visualisation and into embodied interaction.
Visitor Experience
The installation was structured around the idea of atmospheric citizenship. Upon entering the space, each visitor received a Living Air Passport. The passport assigned them to one of six fictional countries, each representing a different level of air quality and linked to a symbolic plant species:
- Edinburgh – Oak (clean and stable air)
- Berlin – Platanus (mildly industrialised air)
- Rio – Jacaranda (humid and dense atmosphere)
- Shanghai – Bamboo (polluted and hazy conditions)
- Cairo – Papyrus (dry and oppressive air)
- Delhi – Lotus (toxic and suffocating atmosphere)
Passports were distributed according to visitors’ clothing colours. This intentionally arbitrary system reflected how environmental inequality is often assigned through geography, class, or circumstance rather than personal choice.
After receiving their passport, visitors entered an enclosed installation space and wore a breathing mask containing a respiratory sensor. The experience lasted approximately ninety seconds. During this time, their own breathing controlled the audiovisual environment surrounding them.
Technical Process
The breathing mask used a pressure sensor to detect subtle inhalation and exhalation patterns. Data was sampled in real time and transmitted through Bluetooth Low Energy to a system built with Python and TouchDesigner. This allowed each visitor’s breath to directly shape the installation environment.
Visual output included moving particles, ripples, and distortions projected onto the surrounding surfaces. At an early stage, we mapped pollution data primarily through colour and brightness. However, user testing showed that these changes were not immediately perceptible or emotionally engaging. We therefore redesigned the system to focus on motion speed, spatial distortion, and rhythmic transformation. These qualities were much more effective in producing bodily awareness.
Sound design followed the same logic. Cleaner atmospheric zones featured soft ambient tones and stable breathing rhythms, while polluted zones introduced mechanical noise, distortion, and irregular pulses. Audio became an important tool for guiding emotional response and creating tension.
To deepen immersion further, we introduced airflow, humidity, and subtle scents into the installation space. These environmental cues encouraged visitors to notice their own breathing more consciously. What is usually automatic became suddenly present.
Design Challenges and Learning
One of the most important lessons from the project was that technical accuracy alone does not guarantee meaningful interaction. Initially, we prioritised precise data translation, but the results felt visually weak and emotionally distant. Through iteration, we learned that perceptual clarity matters more than literal representation. Visitors responded strongly when data was translated into movement, instability, rhythm, and sensory discomfort.
Another challenge involved the sensor system. Our first prototype used fabric-embedded force sensors, but these produced inconsistent readings and restricted movement. We replaced them with a lightweight mask-mounted pressure sensor, which offered cleaner data while preserving comfort and immersion.
We also had to consider hygiene and safety because multiple participants used the installation. Between sessions, masks and surfaces were disinfected, the space was ventilated, and odours were neutralised.
Reflection
This project demonstrated that interaction design can function as both communication and critique. Breathing Is Not a Choice is not simply an artwork about pollution; it is a sensory intervention that asks visitors to reconsider their relationship with the atmosphere.
For me, the most valuable insight was understanding how bodies process information differently from screens. Data becomes more powerful when it is felt rather than only seen. Movement communicates faster than text, rhythm creates awareness, and discomfort can generate empathy.
The installation also raised wider questions about environmental justice. Clean air is often treated as normal or invisible by those who have access to it, while others experience pollution as an unavoidable daily condition. By placing visitors inside changing atmospheric realities, the project encouraged reflection on inequality and collective responsibility.
When people left the space, we hoped they would carry one simple thought with them: breathing may feel personal, but clean air is a shared political issue.
