David Rickard: Halfway to the Sun

Distance seems to shrink to insignificance in our age of increased connectivity, ever-faster travel, and digital instantaneity. Halfway to the Sun is a metaphor and an attempt to comprehend the scale of movement — both digital and physical — that shapes our lives, including the endless stream of car journeys taken daily across the UK. This proposed installation by artist David Rickard, salvaging over 300 aluminium car‑wheel rims, reflects on the invisible history of travel — the millions of miles cars traverse over their lifetimes.

The installation also looks at the flip side of travel. All vehicles contribute to air pollution, including electric cars, which still emit significant particulate matter (PM2.5) from tyre wear and road dust resuspension. When we breathe in, tiny, invisible particles of pollution penetrate deep into our lungs and bloodstream, affecting every organ in the body. Toxic air is a known contributor to cancer, heart disease, stroke, and asthma. According to the Royal College of Physicians, air pollution contributes to approximately 30,000 deaths per year and costs society, businesses and the NHS more than £27 billion annually.

This context is especially relevant to Somers Town. The neighbourhood is surrounded by major roads, including Euston Road, still one of London's most polluted. Despite a significant reduction in both nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 levels over the past decade, the mean annual concentration of both pollutants in the area close to Euston Road remains considerably above the WHO's recommended limits of 10 µg/m³ and 5 µg/m³, respectively.

Moreover, across the last 30 years, Somers Town and the surrounding areas have undergone extensive, continuous development. As a result of ongoing large-scale construction projects, residents have experienced not only air-quality degradation, but also the loss of open green spaces.

This artistic project acknowledges the complex nature of air pollution and its multiple sources – including those connected with our daily activities at home, such as cooking, wood burning or lighting of candles. It offers no facile answers. Instead, it encourages us to think of radical new ways in which our urban landscape could evolve in response to environmental change. It calls for cities where space is truly public, and where collective wellbeing takes precedence over personal habits that deteriorate air quality and destroy health for all.

The installation on view in the gallery illustrates the evolution of our thinking around air pollution. This includes featuring plants that at different points were thought of as solutions to the air quality problem, including those recommended by NASA, following its 1989 clean air study. The title itself – Halfway to the Sun – evokes the connection to space travel.

At the end of the exhibition, all plants will be distributed among residents of Somers Town.

Special thanks to the many people, including residents of Somers Town, who helped shape this work: Ema Howling, Ed Tibuzzi, Halima Khan, Halima Tuli, Hanif Kara OBE, James New, Michael Pinsky, Tom Parkes, Slaney Devlin, and participants of the Think and Do workshop.

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