Saturday evening there was an art exhibition in the Swedish embassy in Berlin, entitled Visual Voltage, the exhibition presents concepts and artworks to show that designers and artists have also have an important part to play in creating awareness and debate around this vital issue. This project is one of the contributions of the Swedish institute to the sustainability field.

This art perspective invites us to rethink of our consumption habits in order to avoid a global catastrophe, it does that mainly through interactive artwork in which the human behavior towards energy is reflected on the project.

One of the projects that caught my eyes is the Energy AWARE clock, which is a an electricity meter that resembles an ordinary kitchen clock, it is designed to make energy awareness a part of everyday life by visualizing the daily rhythms of the household. At a glance, you could see how much energy is consumed, and the new graphs are drawn on top of the ones from the day before, in order to compare the energy use from day to day.

– AWARE clock

The AWARE Laundry Lamp, on the other hand, attempts to use the usually-wasted heat energy generated from light bulbs in drying clothes! Basically, you can design your own lampshade which you will hang your clothes on. Not only that, but you could also go further and make a statement with the kind of laundry you put to display ;) Using this method instead of tumble-dryers which is one of the greatest consumers of electricity at home.

Another project is the Eco Awario War, or something like that :P I cannot remember the name exactly, but anyhow: it is a Nintendo wii game which aims to create awareness of resources consumption. The largest challenge, was to embed as much information as possible without compromising the fun for the players. Apparently, most of the traditional energy-saving workshops, speeches, .. etc have been observed by those who are already aware, those who are already saving energy! Therefore, targeting another group is important.

You could check the other projects at the following link: www.visualvoltage.se

I think the exhibition did a great job, myself I have been noticing the lights left on in empty rooms in the flat and turning them off, washing dishes the german way saves lots of water as well, and removing the laptop and mobile chargers from plugs when not used, those are energy thieves!

Why this exhibition was very important for me personally, is because I’ve been thinking for a while of career change. Well, I don’t know if career is the right word since I haven’t yet got a job. Anyway, having studied Computer Engineering I now feel it’s a bit too technical, and I’m not exactly enthusiastic about it, therefore, I started looking for Masters in some other field. BUT seeing those project that combine art, design and technology I felt like I could do something similar, finding a project in which I could marry my previous knowledge with interactive designs. That would be fantastic.

Well, I hope you would pay a bit more attention to your energy consumption, why to keep the lights on when you are not in the room, why to use the clothes dryer when there is sun outside, and why not to remove the chargers from plugs when you are done using them? :)

Cheers!

Raz

Every summer Americans commemorate Independence Day by detonating all sorts of colorful and noisy explosives in the streets. I always figured this was another one of our national quirks, like guns and bombs. Then I spent New Years in Berlin. Nothing I have ever witnessed in the United States can compare to the force and volume of mortar blasts and rockets (illegal in most US states) that we witnessed from a fourth floor corner balcony. The rainbow flashes and skull rattling booms shot up from the street and erupted before our eyes. The days before and after were like life during wartime. 

Jeden Sommer gedenken Amerikaner Independence Day indem sie allerei bunte und laute Sprengkörper in den Straßen explodieren lassen. Ich dachte immer, dass das ein weiteres unserer nationalen Eigenheiten sei, wie Waffen und Bomben. Dann verbrachte ich Silvester in Berlin. Nichts, was ich jemals in den Vereinigten Staaten gesehen habe kann die Kraft und das Volumen von Krachern und Raketen übertreffen (illegal in den meisten US-Bundesstaaten), die wir von einem Balkon im vierten Stock gesehen haben. Der Regenbogen blinkt und schädel-rasselndes Donnern schoß von der Straße und brach vor unseren Augen aus. Die Tage davor und danach war wie Leben in Kriegszeiten. 

I remember golden evenings by the lakes of the Grunewald, when the day stretched on, lazy as we were. What a different city Berlin becomes in the summer, full of outdoor happenings, infinite possibilities. When I think these thoughts in the middle of January, I know I can’t leave the city like it is, cold. I think I must stay and have another beer down by the lake.

Ich erinnere mich an goldene Abende an den Seen des Grunewalds, an denen der Tag sich ausdehnte, genauso faul wie wir waren. Berlin wird wie eine andere Stadt im Sommer voll von Outdoor-Aktivitäten, unendlich vielen Möglichkeiten. Wenn ich diesen Gedanken in der Mitte des Monats Januar denke, weiss ich, ich kann die Stadt nicht verlassen, wie sie jetzt ist, kalt. Ich glaube, ich muss bleiben und noch ein Bier unten am See trinken.

In den Wintermonaten, macht der hohe Breitengrad und die niedrige Höhe von Berlin eine düstere städtische Tundra aus. Das reichliche Sommergrün fällt weg und verfault. Büsche und Bäume werden dunkle Skelette. Aber wenn man genau hinsieht, ist es eine andere Art von Frühling mit seinen eigenen fremden und schönen Blüten.

In the winter months, Berlin’s high latitude and low altitude yield a bleak urban tundra. The abundant summer green deciduates and rots. Bushes and trees become dark skeletons. But if you look closely there is another kind of spring with strange and lovely blossoms all its own.

Der See ist zugefroren. Der Schnee ist tief. Die Hügel, auf denen die Leute sich gesonnt haben, sind jetzt voller Schlittenfahrer. Sie spielen in der Dämmerung weil es so wenig Sonnenlicht gibt. Trotzdem ist der Sonnenuntergang wunderschön im silbernen Himmel. Für jemanden aus Kalifornien ist es verführerisch zu Hause zu bleiben–aber man muss widerstehen und spazieren gehen, weil der Winter auch seine Reize hat.                                                                                                                                                  The lake is frozen. The snow is deep. The hills where people used to lie in the sun are now full of sledders. They play in the twilight because there is so little sunshine. Still, the sunset is beautiful in the silver sky. For a Californian, it is tempting to stay inside–but one must resist, because winter also has its charms.