GMU:Sustainable Aesthetics/Introduction

Context

• Documenta 15 Press kit (part 1) File:2022-10-18 09.29.26 copy.pdf
• Documenta 15 Press kit (part 2) File:2022-10-18 part 2.pdf

Artworks

Jatiwangi art factory

"JaF is a community that aims to draw attention to the historical roots of Jatiwangi as a center of brickmaking and formerly the largest roof tile industry in Indonesia, and to form a collective awareness and identity for this region through art and cultural activities. The aim of these artistic projects is to achieve a greater awareness of and thus a more appreciative approach to the material clay."

• https://documenta-fifteen.de/en/mediathek/introducing-the-lumbung-members-jatiwangi-art-factory/

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El Warcha

"Over time, the collective developed alternative pedagogical methods based on participatory design, intended to allow for mutual growth and reimagining our living environment."

• https://documenta-fifteen.de/en/lumbung-members-artists/el-warcha/

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Kimchi and chips, Another moon

"Another Moon is a large-scale outdoor apparition that creates a technically sublime second moon in the sky. As the original moon is visible as a reflection of sunlight in the sky, this second moon is created by a cross-temporal reflection of sunlight gathered during the day, projected back into the sky at night. "

• https://www.kimchiandchips.com/works/anothermoon/

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Gijs Schalkx , Slootmotor/Uitsloot

"The Slootmotor is the one vehicle that truly delivers an alternative. Not relying on high technology, incomprehensible devices and resources from all over the world; it is powered by local, sustainable and environmentally cooling sources."

• https://uitsloot.nl/

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Karl Heinz Jeron, Fresh Music For Rotten Vegetables

The Workshop and participatory installation with DIY audio devices Fresh Music For Rotten Vegetables by Karl Heinz Jeron is about generating sounds from vegetables and fruits that are already unsellable in supermarkets for optical reasons. In the description of the project, the author wrote: The electronic devices built by the participants are controlled and fed by current generated by use of the collected vegetables. According to the state of the vegetables, the sound, the colour of the sound, and the volume of the sound are varied. Thus, an improvised piece of music is created from the most simple parts, and a garnish.

• http://jeron.org/

Experiments

Joule thief

"The joule thief circuit massages the voltage and current coming from the battery so that the voltage is high enough, for periods of time, for the device to work continuously."

• https://rimstar.org/sdenergy/joule_thief.htm

Lemon battery

“lemon battery” is, a battery built from lemons. Here the electricity is generated from a chemical reaction between acids and two electrodes of different metals – zinc and copper. Placed within one small or several normal-sized lemons, the setup is identical to Volta's electrical battery. In the lemon battery, the copper serves as the positive electrode, while a piece of zinc acts as the negative electrode. Citric acid triggers the chemical reaction between the negative and positive electrodes, generating a small potential difference, which, in turn, becomes the electrical current. The electric current could also be produced by, for example, potatoes, or humans.

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Historical Context of Electricity

Organisms can be characterized by their ability to conduct electricity, which has been known since the second half of the 18th century. Edmund Whittaker (1910) mentioned Luigi Galvani's and his assistants' experiments in the 1780s, which demonstrated convulsions in frog legs when attached to an electrical machine, and which were considered “animal electricity.” A slightly different approach to electricity was presented by Alessandro Volta, who, in 1799, built his Voltaic Pile, known as the first electrical battery (RSC 2015). Described as a reaction between chemical elements, the Voltaic Pile had two electrodes of different metals placed between pads made of moist material. Such a setup made it possible to demonstrate interaction between organic and non-organic matter.

The characterization of organisms capable of electrical conductivity in reference to reactions between nerves (organic) and metals (non-organic) instead of “animal electricity” was introduced by Johann Wilhelm Ritter (Berg 2008) after a number of experiments shortly before his death in 1810.

Technical explanation: DC Electricity

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