Sheffield poetry clearing the air.

20 metre high poem ‘In Praise of Air’ in the heart of the campus revealed and set to make the university roundabout and the A57 a greener place.

I’ve always felt that this wall was, I don’t know… missing something. #Lyric2014 #teaser pic.twitter.com/7HAFCYwZrh

— Lyric Sheffield (@LyricSheffield) January 31, 2014

University lecturer and poet Simon Armitage recently unveiled his world first catalytic poem, a poem which cleans the air. The fabric the poem is printed on is coated in titanium dioxide which ‘eats’ air pollution from surrounding areas, ironically situated on the side of the Alfred Denny building – home of big chimneys that pollute the campus anyway.

The sky is blue, the poem is read…

The unfurling of the poem marked the start of Lyric Festival. Festival organiser and Senior lecturer of literary-linguistics, Jo Gavins, told The Tab “the interesting thing about what we’ve done, English lecturers, poets and students understand that poetry can change lives but what we hope to do is change the lives of people who don’t like poetry because they will be breathing in air thats a little bit cleaner’ later adding that it may even slow them down enough to make them like poetry.

We prefer this one…

The location of the poem has come under scrutiny from students claiming it could potentially distract drivers from the junction ahead, planning meetings with Sheffield City Council determined that the original site for the installation on the Richard Roberts building would contribute to this.

The council also carried out a health and safety survey, as titanium dioxide is a carcinogenic substance found to cause throat cancer when ingested in large quantities. The chemical has been identified as a group 2B carcinogen. However it is unlikely that the poem will cause any specific damage to students or other pedestrians due to the use of nano particles in the poster.

Gavins thinks that the technology is cost effective costing around £100 on top of the normal cost of printing a large scale poster due to the positive effects of the titanium dioxide and also in raising the profile of the technology to eventually encapsulate it in our own clothes.