Air of creativity

Designers express their concern about the environment through 300 posters displayed in Beijing and Shijiazhuang. [Photo/China Daily]

"We realized we should do something as designers to inspire people to reflect on air-pollution initiatives."

Organizers invited nine acclaimed designers to serve as judges, including German Klaus Hesse, and Chinese Xiao Yong and Zhang Dali.

They received more than 3,000 submissions. The idea of staging an offline exhibition came later. It is also running in Hebei's provincial capital Shijiazhuang until Dec 29.

The Beijing show also features the interactive Eco Air Bubble Pop-up installation piece Fei created with designer Li Xinlu.

They took inspiration from China's outdoor fitness centers and retrofitted the machines to generate power for air purifiers that clean the air inside the dome that contains them. They also use three species of plants to boost purification.

The bubble's facade displays the levels of air pollutants inside and outside the installation that are smaller than 2.5 microns－making them particularly harmful, since the respiratory system can't easily filter them out.

"Smog is a big problem," Fei says.

"But we can change the air quality through everyone's participation."

IF YOU GO

9 am-4 pm, until Saturday. 1/F, Building D, Galaxy SOHO, Jia 7, Xiaopaifang Hutong, Dongcheng district, Beijing.

10 am-10 pm, until Dec 29. Lerthai Center, 39 Zhongshan Donglu, Qiaodong district, Shijiazhuang, Hebei province.