ICE Arts & Energy 200 – A clean energy generating art competition

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), working in collaboration with Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) and the sustainable energy experts Regen SW, are developing a high profile art competition completed in time for the Institution’s 200th Anniversary in 2018 and a permanent art installation forming part of the long-term legacy.

ICE Arts & Energy 200 will challenge will challenge artists and designers to collaborate with civil engineers, to construct an iconic piece of public art that also generates energy at scale.

This project is currently in development and we are looking for an appropriate site, partners and funds. Please get in touch if you are interested in getting involved with this project.

THE IDEAL SITE WILL BE:

• Visible by many people, potentially from a main transport route
• Able to harness renewable energy resources
• Contained within a rich conceptual or historical backdrop from which artists can be inspired
• Suitable for Planning purposes and with a grid connection or energy user
• Located in a space that is visually captivating
• Owned by an entity that will be a good partner
• Accessible for learning

A shortlist of artists will each win:

• A cash prize and a concept design stipend to develop their idea further in the second stage.
• The opportunity to collaborate with a high profile civil engineering company to develop the proposal
• Inclusion in a publication and documentary about the project
• Participation in an art exhibition at the ICE’s prestigious headquarters in Westminster and at the actual project site
• The opportunity to win the final commission, which will be located in a highly visible location.
• The competition will be judged by a prestigious panel of experts from the arts, engineering, and energy sectors, and with input from local stakeholders and community members.

Through the design and build of this innovative piece of public art that generates energy we will celebrate:

• The ICE Bicentenary in 2018 – marking the moment when the cost of renewable energy development is on par with other energy generation technologies
• The talents of artists and engineers working together
• The power of communities to bring about change
• The history of energy generation and a new vision of the future

We will focus attention on some of the important questions of our age:

• How will we power our economy going forward?
• How can we respond to the challenges presented by climate change and extreme weather events?
• How civil engineers build the essential infrastructure upon which society depends
• How individuals and communities can affect change and be at the centre of the decision making process
• What role can artists and designers play in challenging society and in bringing about change?

THE PARTNERSHIP:

ICE
Established in 1818 and with over 85,000 members in 187 countries, ICE is the oldest professional engineering body in the world. ICE’s vision is to place civil engineering at the heart of society, delivering sustainable development through knowledge, skills and professional expertise.
ice.org.uk

Land Art Generator Initiative
Through competitions and educational outreach LAGI is showing how innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration, culture, and the expanding role of technology in art can help to shape the aesthetic impact of renewable energy on our constructed and natural environments. The goal of LAGI is to design and construct a series of large-scale site-specific public art installations that uniquely combine art with utility-scale clean energy generation.
landartgenerator.org

Regen SW
Regen SW is an independent not for profit established in 2003 that uses expertise in sustainable energy to work with industry, communities and the public sector to revolutionise the way we generate, supply and use energy.
regensw.co.uk
power-culture.com

Schumacher College
Schumacher College is an international centre for nature-based education, personal transformation and collective action. Come here for short courses and postgraduate study with the leading thinkers, practitioners and activists of our time. The College is launching an Arts & Ecology programme, leading towards a new MA in Arts & Ecology in 2017.
schumachercollege.ac.uk
artdotearth.org

LAUNCH EVENTS:

• 17 March 2016 – 9-10am Smart Energy Marketplace, Sandy Park, Exeter
  A invitation only event for potential project partners to find out more and or get involved in the project
• 12 October 2016 Schumacher College, Devon
  Project launch
• 13-15 October 2016 Schumacher College, Devon
  Arts and Energy Symposium
  www.artenergysymposium.info

“As we move towards our renewable energy future we should recognize the inherent differences that exist between the old and the new means of energy production and the change to built manifestations that consequently follow from this shift. When power generation facilities were adapted for the urban environment in previous eras, they necessarily responded to the aesthetic considerations of the time required of them to integrate with the fabric of the community. As the days of the gas or coal fired power plant at the farthest outskirts of the city come to a close, we will find more and more integration of energy production within the fabric of our commercial and residential communities. The need for large-scale exurban generation will always be there, but it will be augmented more and more by urban and rural micro-generation and mid-scale generation.

We live in a world that cross-culturally puts a high emphasis on design. As energy generation necessarily comes in closer proximity with the real estate that it powers, issues of aesthetics that drive acceptance are becoming more and more debated. A holistic approach to a renewable energy infrastructure has a place for both macro and micro-generation.

Macro installations in the landscape should also take care in their design to integrate with their surroundings both visually and environmentally. Micro installations should take care in their designs to integrate with the fabric of the urban community. Just as buildings and public art and land art exist as interventions in the fabric of the environment, so must power generation constructions—from our green fields to our suburbs to our downtowns—react responsibly to their role as permanent additions to our shared experience.

We have, on the one hand, an ever increasing drive toward designing buildings and cities to run on 100% renewable energy. The design community and city planners are moving in this direction driven by the collective will of society. On the other hand, we have technologies proliferating that are still rather utilitarian in their form such as the standard horizontal axis, three blade wind turbine. And these utilitarian forms are seeing some pushback from individual communities, especially as they come closer and closer to the city. The first warning signs of this are seen in rural mountaintop residential communities and coastal communities but this debate will only get more and more heated as the devices integrate into more dense urban environments.

What is needed in order to bridge the gap—between the larger desire for a renewable future and the community level negative reactions to the application of the systems required for it—is an artistic movement that can set a course towards aesthetic considerations in sustainable infrastructure.

Because, after all, sustainability in communities is not only about resources, it is also about harmony.”            Land Art Generator Initiative

LAGI is currently working with Glasgow City Council to develop an art and energy project to regenerate a plot in Port Dundas.