Air Quality in the Picture

In the summer of 2023, interested parties set out to map air quality in Leiden. Using a technique by British artist Robin Price, they made the invisible visible to start the conversation about the importance of good air quality.

Robin's technique works through  'light painting'. By taking a picture using a long shutter speed, you can use bright light to draw on the pciture. For his project, Robin paired a long LED strip to an air quality sensor. The result: a photo containing points of light. More points of light mean the air quality is worse.

In 2023, Robin's technique came to the Netherlands. During the weekend of June 30 to July 2, the Citizen Science Lab organized an expedition to visualize Leiden's air quality. It was an educational mishmash with information about air pollution, workshops and of course the expedition itself, where all participants went out to take pictures.

During the expedition, we recreated several of Robin's kits. This way we can continue to experiment with his technique and take new pictures of air pollution. On this site you will find the photos taken with those kits!