The Smok-Ink exhibition, a project half way between art and science, has been launched by Moreno De Turco and Mirco Pagano, a creative team at TBWA\Italy.
Smok-Ink is a 60 square meter canvas entirely hand painted with a black ink made from cigarette chemicals.
4.000 cigarettes were "smoked" by a specially developed machine which extracted the cigarette chemicals in around 15 hours. Using this ink, numbers, images and words were then combined together to explain what happens to the lungs of a smoker. Visitors are heavily involved in the exhibition, with the aim of showing "from within" the damages caused by cigarette smoke.
Mirco Pagano from TBWA\Italy said: "Our idea was born from the intuition of bringing people within their own lungs which are represented as a canvas. The message is strong and the medium even stronger.
“Yes, because the canvas was painted with a special ink, obtained using a purpose built machine that literally smoked cigarettes in order to extract the harmful substances that are deposited in our body. These substances have been used as an ink to paint, hence the name of the exhibition "Smok-Ink".
It was developed with First Floor Under, digital publishing house and event venue, with artistic support coming from the street artist Ozmo.
Humanitas, a center of excellence for treatment and research, supplied the creative team with scienfic information.
Moreno Del Turco said of the concept: "For me, as a smoker, this was a particular initiative. Talking to young people in a new and credible way is never easy. I tried, therefore, to do something impactful that would work first of all on me. Really, seeing what I do every day to my body has been a challenge".
Dr. Armando Santoro, director of Humanitas Cancer Center added: "Humanitas has always been in the forefront in the fight against smoke, offering citizens a Anti-smoking Center, where specialists build a tailor made path based on the patient’s needs. But we have to continue to look for new ways of health advocacy, including communication. The initiative Smok-Ink goes in this direction, encouraging young people to overcome nicotine addiction, through a marriage between art and medicine.”