Air pollution is measured by using he rainbow.
Spectroscopes are instruments that use a diffraction grating to break the light into all of it’s colors. Because particles in the air reflect or absorb certain colors, a sensor can identify what pollutants are in the
atmosphere.
In many mythologies around the world, the rainbow is a connection between humanity and the immaterial. A messenger from the gods, or a bridge that connects the world to the heavens.
Just like in these myths, in atmosphere monitoring is the rainbow a connection between humanity and that what we cannot see: Air pollution.
The connection between spectroscopy and rainbow mythology is materialized in two proposals for
spectroscopes, and a series of prints, where the rainbow is emphasized.
The instruments walk the line between scientific tool and shamanistic object.
Myths strengthen their messages in the way people interact with them, through ritual and aesthetic
experience. This way myths can soak through the fabric of society.
Modern science relies on data, but I believe there is value in the act of measuring and the measuring instruments themselves, before any data is even produced.
This project is an exploration of alternate aesthetics for air monitoring instruments by placing them in the context of a significant mythological symbol.
