“Dancing Solar Forget-Me-Not” realised by the artist Dang in the Serres Royales of Laeken (Brussels; Belgium) in 2009
Nacho Zamora at the Polytechnic University of Valencia is doing research into the history of renewable energy art work. He keeps the solar public artworks blog which is a great place to go to see the short-list of artists and designers who are incorporating renewable energy. The embedded videos here are just some examples of the catalog that he is compiling.
What is still true about this nascent genre however is that the works are limited to powering their own kinetic or illuminating activities rather than existing with the greater purpose of providing renewable electricity to the world. At LAGI, we see solution-based work as the next logical step and we will be engaging these artists to think about the aesthetics of renewable energy in terms of what they can give to society beyond concept and beauty.
Perhaps it is reminiscent of the historic l’art pour l’art vs constructivism conversation. But while at LAGI our aims are squarely in the constructivist camp, we believe in the furtherance of both sides of the artistic coin equally and are delighted to see examples of kinetic works that power themselves to make us think.http://www.solarcollector.ca/
