Exhibitions

Project Residency by Oliver Walker
Open Studio: Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 October 2016, 3-7pm

This residency at Centrum is one stage of an ongoing project, under the working title Wave Power, to build a wave-powered generator. Following on from its initiation during a residency at BankART 1929 in Yokohama, the time at Centrum has provided an opportunity to build a test wave tank and a new rudimentary generator, and the initiation of further conversations about the changes in our energy supply. The plan for the Wave Power project is to develop and improve these prototypes, and to sell the energy produced back to the market. The intention is to then use the money raised to pay a lobbyist working in energy policy, although the final form of this investment is still to be decided.

With its familiar inventiveness, the project is easy for viewers to engage with, joining the artist in learning how to make something new. However, this path to a brighter future is somehow cut short by the prospect of rather dry political lobbying, trying to buy the ear of politicians to affect political change. Although technological inventions are necessary, they are useless without the political will to implement them. Can a focus on (individual) technological solutions even be detrimental in avoiding the main issue at hand – fundamental political, democratic, and economic change?
This weekend we will open the residency at Centrum to visitors, and invite you to pop in to see the progress, and enjoy a tea and cake as the autumn begins to take shape!