Delhi's lungs on display at India Art Fair

The alarming level of Delhi’s air pollution has struck a designer and artist from Spain to model the ‘Delhi Lungs’.

Lucas Munoz was asked to participate in Publica, a specially curated festival by Surbhi Modi of public installations, as a part of India Art Fair (IAF).

The Delhi Lungs, a public art installation, is a round shaped muslin tent fixed on slanting, criss-crossing bamboo sticks. Inside the tent, there are 18 heads of pedestal fans fixed on to the sticks from all sides, with a light fixture at the bottom.

It looks like a large inverted bulb. When the fans start running inside the tent, it will create suction and suck the air around. The rate of pollution can be judged visually in 30-odd days, as the white muslin cloth will sooner take on a darker shade.

“I read a lot about Delhi’s pollution, I was excited to create something useful. This model is not to get empirical evidence of the pollution but the visual effect which we cannot see with naked eye. I was conscious of the fact that I am an outsider talking about this issue. But when I pitched the idea it was received well,” Munoz tells Metrolife.

Munoz is a product designer and he believes his public installation has more than an artistic value, it has a purpose. The model aims to make Delhizens attentive towards the rising levels of pollution.

“Being a product designer and not only an artist I always want to create something which will be of use and knowledge to people,” he says. According to him, it is his first prototype and hence he does not know what will be the outcome after 30 days. But going by the science, it should do as said. 

He also says that he purposefully used materials in the model that are reusable and recyclable.

He has been in residency for a month with the International and national artists as a part of IAF 2016. The Delhi Lungs will be installed at DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj.

Besides Munoz’s, Publica holds installations by artists like Owais Hussain, Gigi Scaria, Krishna Murari and Anant Mishra.

Publica will be held at multiple venues in Delhi and Mumbai between January 30 and February 29.