London Olympics art display breathes new life into importance of urban forestry

By Tierney Smith

Urban forests play a vital role in regulating a city’s environment as well as improving the social well-being of residents.

The benefits from trees removing pollution and carbon from urban atmospheres could be worth millions of pounds, while ‘green walls’ in cities could cut pollution by 30%, according to research conducted by the University of Birmingham.

A new art installation in London ahead of the Olympic Games attempts to highlight these benefits.

The ‘Breathing Trees’ display is based in Russell Square – one of they city’s best known public areas – and is intended to change a typical city park into a living, breathing organism using light and sound installations.

The artwork is a collaboration between Camden Borough Council and digital art company Creatmosphere. It uses a series of multi-colour LED lights positioned within two of the square’s largest trees to visually transform the canopy into the ‘lungs’ of the city, rising and falling to the sound of breathing and a beating heart.

Read the complete story at rtcc.org