pneumOS – The knowledge of the air is open source

Respiro Tribute –

The artwork – an open and evolving project
The Datapoiesi
Organ anatomy

Breath Grammar
Two years of research
The concept and prototype of pneumOS were commissioned by the Municipality of Ravenna in 2022, as part of a collaborative, digitally-supported urban regeneration project: with the project “DARE – Digital Environment for collaborative Alliances to Regenerate urban Ecosystems in middle-sized cities”, an Urban innovative Action funded by the European Union, the local government was looking for innovative ways to present data that characterize quality of life, making it understandable and interesting to citizens.
The work was developed over two years by a transdisciplinary team of researchers, doctors, climatologists, musicians, computer scientists and designers, with the scientific and technological collaboration of the Educational.City/Hi-storia initiative and two university clusters: the Federico II University of Naples and the La Sapienza University of Rome.
The Municipality of Ravenna, too, is now enhancing the work and the further scientific path that it has made evolve through a new project, Digital Unite, supported by European funds from the Emilia-Romagna Region and aimed at bringing citizenship closer and closer to the dimension of digital and data. The meeting between pneumOS and Digital Unite gave birth to the “Respiro” initiative, curated by the HER She Loves Data research center: an innovative citizen science format, centred on work and air quality data, aimed at activating and raising awareness among citizens.
Luminescence
From Digital Unite to Osaka, a new info-aesthetic feature
The light, consisting of an LED ring placed inside the silicone breathing bag, was initially added to allow the work to be illuminated, avoiding solutions such as spotlights from above or from the side (with the associated reflection problems posed by the dome).
Later, the light was linked to data (such as sound and movement of the bag), adding to the work’s info-aesthetic apparatus and the breath grammar that allows the user to interpret the state of the air.
MAKING OFF
MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Environmental data; APIs; software (Python, Pure Data, C); smart sensors (weather controllers); metal; Plexiglas; silicone; wood; water-based paints; PLA (polylactic acid); ABS; multilayer pipes; multicolored synthetic feathers; linear actuator; STM Nucleo board; Arduino; Raspberry Pi; sound membranes; electrodynamic exciters; multichannel sound board; Bluetooth audio amplification system; uninterruptible power supply; electric transformer; electric cables; screws.
TECHNIQUES
Environmental data study, analysis and processing; transdisciplinary research (air quality, human anatomy, medicine, art, design, ecology, info-aesthetics); creative coding; generative music; “data-driven” kinetic and programmed art; 3D printing and modeling; mixed sculpture (digital and hand techniques); custom silicone casting; hand silicone fabrication and coloring; hand metal fabrication (bending, cutting, painting).
About pneumOS
Partners and Support
pneumOS is a work commissioned by the City of
Ravenna, through the DARE program – Digital
environment for collaborative Alliances to
Regenerate urban Ecosystems in middle-sized cities, produced by HER she Loves Data research center.
Scientific and technological partners:
Educational.city / Hi-storia; Herobots Ltd. – Spin-off of the Department of Industrial Engineering
of the Federico II University of Naples; Saperi&co,
Research and Services Center, Sapienza University of Rome.

