How do we want to live – now and in 100 years? Against a backdrop of increasing violence, war in Europe and intensification of rare earth mining, it is hard to imagine the next decade, let alone the next 100 years.
What do energy alternatives look like if we start with humus (Latin for earth, soil) as the basis for creative practice? The curators of the Regenerative Energy Communities project propose a future we could use for energy and agriculture. Artists, designers, technologists, farmers and organizers are experimenting with different regenerative prototypes.
Classes are welcome to participate in the energy giveaway at the “Humuspunk Library.” Unlike the glossy images of a smart city or urban renewal workshop, this library is full of material resistances and prototypes that come to life and spill over and onto each other.
Workshop
After an interactive tour of the exhibition, students build a simple electric circuit using potatoes and a piece of copper and a zinc screw each. The electrons flow from the negative pole (screw) to the positive pole (copper), just like in a normal battery. The potato, or the water in it, is the conductor. With this homemade potato battery, a small lamp can be made to glow.
After the workshop, the potatoes can be taken home and planted. During the harvest it becomes visible: from each of the planted energy tubers several new potatoes are produced, which can then either be eaten or converted into another potato battery.
Development Workshop: Regenerative Energy Communities
Art mediation: Alexandra Eichenauer
