The air purifier or the design of air

Abstract

This article engages with scholarship in media theory and the history of technology and design and delves into case studies of various scales of air purifiers: the Dyson Zone and the Anti-Smog Tower in Xi’an, Shaanxi. I investigate the cultural and political tensions among the air purifier’s users, policy-makers and designers. I argue that within a market economy, the principles of air purifier design ultimately lead to the commodification of air.