Copenhagen power plant is going up in smoke rings

Artists, eh, where would we be without them?

In an attempt to make the "rather abstract pollution aspect... somewhat more graspable and understandable", Berlin-based artists realities:united are reportedly planning to install a giant vortex capable of producing huge smoke rings from a proposed waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen.

Each ring will be 30 metres in diameter and three meters thick, will consitute a tonne of carbon dioxide and will be, like, well… cool.

Ulla Röttger, director of Amagerforbraending power plant, outlined the rationale for the project to the Creative Review blog:

"We admit, we are an industrial plant. But with smoke rings we signal that we are also something else. Many believe that if you throw something away, it is gone, but it actually is not. And by sending smoke rings we'd like to make it noticeable that we are here, and that we're solving a problem that the city has when it's getting rid of its waste."

Which sounds fair enough, but if Hollywood has taught the Sceptic Tank one thing it is that being able to blow smoke rings is cool. And if we see a 30-metre diameter smoke ring lit up at night using lasers, we are going to want to see more of them – a lot more of them.

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