Public Smog, 2004–2017
Wallpaper, video presentation
Amy Balkin, PUBLIC SMOG IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DIRECT ACTION, billboard, Bonamoussadi, Douala, Cameroon, 2009. (Photo: Benoît Mangin, courtesy of the artist)
Public Smog is a clean-air park in the atmosphere that fluctuates in location and scale. The park is constructed through financial, legal, and political activities that open it for public use. Since 2004, these include purchasing and withholding greenhouse gas emission offsets in California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), and ongoing efforts to inscribe Earth’s atmosphere on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Public Smog is subject to prevailing winds and the long-range transport of aerosols and gases. Here on show are a newly commissioned indoor billboard with the sky of Utrecht and a video chronicle of the project.
Part of Propositions #1: What We Mean.
