Cleaning the air with color
Photo: Jose Tence Ruiz, one of 8 commissioned artists for a large-scale public art project along EDSA, supervises his work along the Barangay San Lorenzo wall. This painting will be unveiled on Saturday, May 7 at 8 a.m.
The Philippine paint manufacture leader BOYSEN, with the support of the MMDA, is launching an urban renewal initiative that simultaneously cleans the air and enables ambitious public artworks to be accomplished.
Eight huge artworks by 11 artists will be executed on EDSA, one every 45 days, until early 2012. In their hands the revolutionary paint product KNOxOUT becomes a medium of social change.
The BOYSEN KNOxOUT PROJECT: EDSA was designed around a paint that is activated by sunlight to transform airborne toxins into safe residues that can be washed away by rains. Scientific texts have demonstrated that for every square meter of surface painted with KNOx-OUT, the exhaust of 10 cars is eliminated.
Each artwork will cover 1000 square meters of high walls. The works will be executed on high walls along EDSA and on a selection of MRT pylons and station walls. At this size, collectively 10,000 square meters, the toxins in the exhaust of 100,000 cars can be neutralized. The project goes beyond “beautification” and beyond illustrating environmentalist ideas by using a paint medium that helps to address one major urban problem.
The commissioned artworks should make the often difficult ride down EDSA more pleasant. The artists are Jose Tence Ruiz, Neal M. Oshima, Baby Imperial and Coco Anne of B+C graphic design studio, the art department of the advertising agency TBWA, Virgillio “Pandy” Aviado, Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, Erika Tan and Tapio Snellman. The Boysen KnoxOut Project: EDSA is curated and supervised by Tao, Inc.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
April 22nd, 2011 at 00:50
I hope the vandals won’t deface them.
I will cover my future house with this paint.
April 22nd, 2011 at 18:01
Unfortunately, they’ll be covered with dirty black diesel soot in a very short time, unless Boysen agrees to repaint the art every few months or so.
April 22nd, 2011 at 21:01
From Boysen: Boysen KNOxOUT is a self-cleaning paint. Dirt will not adhere to the surface, but will be washed out when it rains. The paint will last for about five years. Developed by Filipino scientists, Boysen KNOxOUT was field-tested on Edsa Guadalupe.
April 23rd, 2011 at 12:33
That is a fantastic idea. Not only good for the eyes but also our lungs.
April 23rd, 2011 at 21:10
Lovely work. Ang lamig sa paningin ng kulay. :) Sana kasama rin ang WeeWillDoodle sa mga artist na gagawa.
I hope these artworks would be spared from the “WIN-blahbah” and the “Ibagasak/ibasura” vandals. Ang mahuling mangwawalanghiya sa mga iyan, sana yantokin.
Sana may magawa ring mga tarpaulin na kagaya ng pinturang yan para naman maging kapaki-pakinabang sa lahat ang mga billboard lalo na sa EDSA at sa NLEX at SLEX.
May 12th, 2011 at 13:11
I was astonished when I saw this yesterday. Then I accidentally saw this through the In Traffic label. Amazing. Kailangan natin to. Kailangan ng bayan to. Kudos sa Boysen.