TY - JOUR
T1 - Making Energy Infrastructure
T2 - Tactical Oscillations and Cosmopolitics
AU - Schick, Lea
AU - Winthereik, Brit Ross
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid and ensuringpublic interest in energy is a key concern in many countries. What role may art play,and what political strategies do artists employ, in order to intervene in theinfrastructuring of energy and public environments? As the case study here, aCopenhagen art and energy competition invited artists and designers from around theworld to submit ideas for large-scale public artworks that can generate utility-scalerenewable energy. The competition process had a smooth and consensus-seekingpolitical strategy, manifested in a set of tactical oscillations. In order to engage withlocal stakeholders and ensure the success of the competition, the project managersoscillated between presenting the competition as part of existing policy initiatives andas posing alternatives to existing policy. They oscillated between being situated in apragmatic present and in an unprecedented future; between being tied to the specificsite of the competition and belonging to no place in particular; and not least betweenbeing predominantly an art project and primarily an infrastructure project. Remarkabledifferences between cosmopolitics and smooth politics appear here, especiallycompared to the literature analysing the roles played by art and design when imaginingnew ways of living with energy. Oscillation between smooth politics and cosmopoliticsmay provide a generative way forward for actors wishing to engage in theinfrastructuring of environments.
AB - Integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid and ensuringpublic interest in energy is a key concern in many countries. What role may art play,and what political strategies do artists employ, in order to intervene in theinfrastructuring of energy and public environments? As the case study here, aCopenhagen art and energy competition invited artists and designers from around theworld to submit ideas for large-scale public artworks that can generate utility-scalerenewable energy. The competition process had a smooth and consensus-seekingpolitical strategy, manifested in a set of tactical oscillations. In order to engage withlocal stakeholders and ensure the success of the competition, the project managersoscillated between presenting the competition as part of existing policy initiatives andas posing alternatives to existing policy. They oscillated between being situated in apragmatic present and in an unprecedented future; between being tied to the specificsite of the competition and belonging to no place in particular; and not least betweenbeing predominantly an art project and primarily an infrastructure project. Remarkabledifferences between cosmopolitics and smooth politics appear here, especiallycompared to the literature analysing the roles played by art and design when imaginingnew ways of living with energy. Oscillation between smooth politics and cosmopoliticsmay provide a generative way forward for actors wishing to engage in theinfrastructuring of environments.
KW - Art, energy, infrastructure development, imagination, cosmopolitics
UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/csac20
U2 - 10.1080/09505431.2015.1093731
DO - 10.1080/09505431.2015.1093731
M3 - Journal article
VL - 45
SP - 44
EP - 68
JO - Science as Culture
JF - Science as Culture
SN - 0950-5431
IS - 1
ER -