Energy Crafting was a two day worksession led by 施 惟 捷 Shih Wei Chieh and Maya Minder, with inputs from The Institute of Technology in the Public Interest, Wiriya Rattanasuwan and Regenerative Energy Comumunities, as part of the Loose Energy Curriculum at The Humuspunk Library, AIA gallery, Switzerland.
Over the two days participants were introduced to the connections between DIY energy craft, practices of infrastructure building, art and community practices of regeneration and technologies in the public interest. Participants took part in a two day worksession to collectively research energy crafting for a regenerative present! We collectively and practically worked on the practices of growing and community energy creation, alongside creating new solidarities for organising instituting practices - asking participants to bring their proposals for crafting new energy kinships!
During the two days participants were introduced to crafting solar cells, including extracting natural dye from plants, etching on conductive glass and assembling small-scale solar cells. Dye and pigments are essential in textiles and painting, and also for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). DSSCs are a type of cell that mimics plant’s photosynthesis. Different colors of DSSC can be made using different dyes extracted from the local environment. In this process more toxic chemical elements found in common solar panels are replaced with those of plant-based dyes and organic polymers to make a gel that forms an electrolyte layer. From raspberries to wode, from scavenged sunscreen to blueberries, we will grow our own solar cells; an energy crafting for a regenerative present!
Shih Wei Chieh has written a helpful wiki entry including more images from the event.
On the first day, we started with a collective moment lead by Femke Snelting and Martino Morandi – our friends from The Institute of Technology in the Public Interest– who lead us in diagramming how energy crafting practices such as these might institute community infrastructures for forms of togetherness. (more writeup to follow!)
All photos Nicolas Petit CC4R.
