Developing Solar Artworks
Art and Energy’s Jenny has been successful with a bid to the Arts Council England ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ fund. You may remember the solar artworks that we developed a couple of years ago? Well this funding will enable us to take these on to the next level. Thank you Arts Council England!
We’re excited about Solar as an art material because we think that it has great potential to:
create magical artworks that generate a charge with potential functionality.
engage new audiences in new ways
break down barriers to understanding and connecting with renewable energy.
start more conversations leading to positive action around the climate emergency.
empower us all!
This research will include:
Reaching out to industry and researchers to learn more about solar, the components that we can power, and how to create artworks with longevity.
Exploration of aesthetic potential - what other techniques can we use as artists to make the solar cells interesting and attractive? How does this affect their efficiency?
Sparkies events
We started by running two open call events, one in Exeter the other in Plymouth. We invited sparkies and tinkerers to join us to find out more about the solar artworks so far and to join us in informal conversation about what the next steps could be. In particular we asked the question:
‘How will we use our power?’
We want to share this journey, to inspire others, to share knowledge in order to fill gaps, to ask the right questions and encourage others to join in.
We were joined by a range of lovely people bringing a variety of skills to the table. For example: Magda who explained that she didn’t have the technical skills but would love to learn more and share ideas, and Dan who previously ran solar panel workshops with Demand Energy Equality, introducing Chloe and Naomi to the skills that sparked the very first Art and Energy Solar Artworks!
Our next step is to invite these lovely people to join us for a hands-on skill share as we create simple illuminated solar artworks in the new year.
Solar research : Visit to Penryn
Earlier this year Plymouth Energy Community kindly donated us two large solar panels. These had been installed on a school roof 5 years ago as part of a larger solar array, but with the building due for demolition PEC rehomed the majority of panels onto community project roofs, we jumped at the opportunity to have the last two! We already had 2 other much smaller solar panels, we plan to experiment with etching/engraving designs onto to top surface of all 4 in order. We hope to transform the inky rectangles into aesthetically engaging artworks, but also to test how this impacts their efficiency to generate electricity. This has potential for upcycling solar panels, adding value through aesthetics.
In early December we hired an electric van to transport the panels to the University of Exeter ESI (Environment and Sustainability Institute) at the Penryn campus. We were also joined by our sparkie friend Dan. Our good friend and fellow director, Katie Shanks, met us and gave us a tour of this amazing facility. We then used their solar simulator to measure the output of the solar panels - this involves wiring the panels up in a very dark room, shutting the door (with us outside!) and flashing on an extremely bright light (mimicking the sun). We had expected the two larger panels to have slightly lost efficiency after 5 years on the school roof, but with a thorough clean they were still operating at full efficiency.
Our next steps are to develop designs to apply to the panels. Our ideas so far include :
Something inspired by Katie’s research using the nano structure of a Cabbage White butterfly to increase efficiency of solar generation using lenses.
A board game linking to energy generation facts, carbon footprints and small actions to reduce our impact.
Energy maps of Plymouth and Exeter.
Sun related imagery
And much more….
What would you like to see on a solar artwork? Share your thoughts.
