CZECHIA: The Prague-based Canadian artist David Strauzz recently painted the “We Share The Same Future” ecological mural on the UNIQ Tesla building in Holešovice, Prague. Under the slogan “Bring the Future to Light,” Nike and Footshop portrait an unknown woman on 350-square-meters. The mural shares similar properties with woodland as the 130 kilograms of mineral paint help neutralize air pollution.
Like many other places on Earth, Prague needs urgent measures in improving air quality. This year, Nike and Footshop united in this eco-preservation action: “We didn’t want to do another advertisement on the facade. That is why we contacted David Strauzz, an expert in the field of large-format painting, and offered him this new concept,” explained Jan Sedloň, Footshop’s brand manager.
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Under the sunlight, the mineral paint that has been used will decompose up to 88 percent of harmful air pollutants chemically, transforming them into environmentally safe salt molecules. While eliminating nitrogen oxides and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the mural will allow no mold to form and will prevent that building’s side from overheating. While the paint may last for at least a decade, the mural is planned to be taken down with the new reconstruction project of the building.
UNIQ Tesla: About the Building
The neo-industrial workplace UNIQ Tesla building is the last standing building of the Tesla Factory Complex. Once serving as the administrative headquarters of the Tesla lighting company, its basement was designed as a bunker for the local municipality. The building was selected for this unique project as it is large enough and will be reconstructed in the second half of the year.
Air Pollutants: Nitrogen
Nitrogen is primarily met in nature as ammonia and nitrogen oxides. Being agricultural activity the major producer of ammonia, acidification of water sources is on the rise, and it has a devastating effect on biodiversity. The by-product of transportation, industrial and household activities, nitrogen oxides, notably sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) contribute to the formation of airborne fine particulate matter called PM2.5. Along with ozone (O₃), SO₂ and PM2.5 cause a range of serious health problems in humans, leading to the increasing number of premature mortality. N₂O is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 298 times greater than carbon dioxide and causes acidification and eutrophication of water ecosystems.
Advertising: Visual Pollution or Solution
When it comes to activism, environmental and social responsibilities are must-haves for contemporary corporations, and you might have heard about advertising as a visual pollutant. As entities invest millions in all types of campaigns, intelligent advertising would allow us to invest in ecological murals , thus, help reduce pollution and improve life expectancy.
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As explained in an article by the Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA), special grades of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) can remove harmful nitrogen oxides through photocatalysis. Sunlight speeds up photolysis, and nitrogen oxides are converted much more rapidly into harmless soluble nitrate salts which are then removed from a building’s surface by rainfall. TiO₂-based coatings are not consumed or degraded and are cost-effective, low-maintenance as they will continuously remove the pollutants from the air.
Politics Beyond the State: Environmental Activism
As explained in World Politics, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Apr., 1995), pp. 311-340, Politics Beyond the State: Environmental Activism, environmental actions need centralized decisions that overpass global borders. In this sense, art meets technology and cross-border data transfers prove once again to be crucial for global prosperity. But what if we come to edge-concurrence for “wall space”? What if we find disturbing large-scale investments of the “art that has been imposed on us”? …
Resources:
- National Emission reduction Commitments Directive, EU
- Ambient Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC, EU
- Climate Change Committee, UK
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