A HISTORY OF SOLAR POWER ART AND DESIGN - Book Release!
Date: September 4, 2021 2pm-3:30pm
Location: Indoors at Flux’s house on Governors Island (Colonels Row House 404A)

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Alex Nathanson will be celebrating the release of his new book A History of Solar Power Art and Design. He will be joined by NYC-based artists and designers working with solar power whose work is featured in the book, including Ted Victoria and Benedetta Piantella.

The book, which was recently published by Routledge, examines the history of creative applications of photovoltaic (PV) solar power, including sound art, wearable technology, public art, industrial design, digital media, building integrated design, and many others.

The growth in artists and designers incorporating solar power into their work reflects broader social, economic, and political events. As the cost of PV cells has come down, they have become more accessible and have found their way into a growing range of design applications and artistic practices. As climate change continues to transform our environment and becomes a greater public concern, the importance of integrating sustainable energy technologies into our culture grows as well.

The book is available directly from publisher and most book retailers. Use code FLY21 for a 20% discount when ordering directly from the publisher at https://www.routledge.com/A-History-of-Solar-Power-Art-and-Design/Nathanson/p/book/9780367465681

BIOS:

Alex Nathanson is a multimedia artist, designer, technologist, and educator. His work is primarily focused on exploring both the experimental and practical applications of sustainable energy technologies, particularly photovoltaic solar power. His work has been featured at Issue Project Room (NYC), the Museum of the Moving Image (NYC), Anthology Film Archives (NYC), Film Society of Lincoln Center (NYC), Dome of Visions (Copenhagen, Denmark), and the Art Prospect Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia). He was one of the long-term artists in residence at Flux Factory, in Queens, NY from 2012 to 2016, and his multi-media performance group Fan Letters was awarded residencies at The Watermill Center in 2017 and 2019. Solar Protocol, a collaboration with Tega Brain and Benedetta Piantella, was awarded a fellowship at Eyebeam in 2020. As a solar power designer, he has created interactive and educational projects for The Climate Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Solar One, and the NYC Department of Education, among others. Most recently, his book A History of Solar Power Art and Design was published by Routledge. (https://alexnathanson.com)

Ted Victoria is a New York based artist primarily known for mixed media wall pieces that incorporate the use of a lens light projection system similar to the camera obscura. Victoria began working with solar power in sculptural sound pieces in the late 1960s, making him one of the earliest documented artists to incorporate solar power into an artwork. Victoria received his MFA from Rutgers University in 1970. His work is represented in the collections of Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, France; Indianapolis Museum of Art; the Forbes Collection, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Tasa Collection, Munich; and many others. (http://www.tedvictoria.com/)

Benedetta Piantella is a designer turned humanitarian technologist. She has been involved in international development for the past ten years, ever since her experience of surviving the Tsunami in 2004. She has also been teaching for the past decade in different disciplines and age groups, from Lego Robotics to K-12 students to HCI, Physical Computing and Engineering for Development to graduate students at NYU. She founded two R&D companies focused on producing sustainable solutions to social problems worldwide and built partnerships with organizations such as the UN, UNICEF, The Earth Institute, Universities such as NYU, Columbia University and Princeton, and multiple NGOs. Her design research and practice focus on applying systems thinking and user-driven development to ensure equitable access to life-sustaining resources, often through networks, data-collection and real-time monitoring, and distributed infrastructure. (https://engineering.nyu.edu/faculty/benedetta-piantella)

CONTACT:
Website: https://www.solarpowerforartists.com/events
Alex Nathanson social media handles
Instragram: alexnathanson & solarpowerforartists
Twitter: solar4artists
Benedetta Piantella social media handles
Instagram: benedetoula