Hear from the artists behind the exhibition, Air Datascape and take part in a hands on workshop led by Atsuhide Ito

Join us for this exhibition celebration event and workshop with Atsuhide Ito, Aster Cook, Sian Chungh and Agalya Kumaraguruparasharma.

Please note: from 1pm - 2pm this event will take place in the Crawford Room which does not have step free access. From 2pm - 3pm, the workshop will take place in the café extension which is wheel-chair accessile.

If you have any access needs please get in touch via enquiries@aspacearts.org.uk and let us know.

About the Exhibition

Air Datascape is a ten-month project exploring air pollution in Southampton through art and citizen science.

Air is everywhere, but air pollution is often invisible. We move through it without seeing it, measuring it or knowing exactly what we are breathing. Yet the air we share does not affect us all in the same way.

In May 2026, artists Atsuhide Ito, Aster Cook, Sian Chungh and Agalya Kumaraguruparasharma carried air pollution sensors with them as they moved through Southampton. They collected data from the places they travelled through, lived in and spent time in, paying attention to the air around them.

Atsuhide ran the Southampton Marathon on 3rd May 2026, recording pollution levels every two minutes as he moved through the city. Aster, Sain, and Agalya walked through Southampton, following familiar routes and paying attention to their immediate surroundings. Their journeys produced four different datasets - each shaped by a body moving through the air.

The artists have each found their own ways of translating these invisible fluctuations into something that can be seen, sensed and felt. Through their work, air pollution becomes more than a number: it becomes something experiential.

About the Workshop (2pm - 3pm)

The workshop gives you a taster for citizen science methods, and how environmental data can be used for making art. It is designed as an introduction for beginners who have never used microcontrollers such as Arduino or Rasberry Pi boards.

Starting by introducing the group of artists and engineers called Safecast based in Tokyo, we explore what citizen science means and how it can help empower anyone who is curious without any expertise in sicence.

We can use an air pollution sensor and see how easy or difficult to use the data to make something. We will try to see if we can turn an origami wind turbine to turn by using the collected data.

Description supplied by the event organiser.