EXPLORING HUMAN SUSTAINABILITY AS SOLAR-BASED REGENERATIVE NETWORKS
This series of twelve engraved ceramic plates is an essay on the political economy of strong sustainability with the Sun at its heart. Starting from the premise that the Earth's geological resources are finite and that mining and fossil fuel extraction are irreversible, the artists' collective Disnovation.org proposes a radical alternative economic standard based on photosynthesis. This process, which transforms the Sun's rays into organic matter, is the only source of renewable carbon compounds essential to life on Earth.
CONCEPTION: DISNOVATION.ORG
CERAMIC PLATES ENGRAVING: IFT DE VINCI, PARIS
INSTALLATION, CERAMIC PLATES, ILLUSTRATIONS, ESSAY | 2024
PRESS IMAGES ON FLICKR
COMMISSIONED FOR THE SOLAR BIENNALE 2, SOLEIL.S, 2025, CH
PERMANENT COLLECTION OF MUDAC, LAUSANNE, CH
COMMISSIONED BY HAC-TE & THE S+T+ARTS, EUROPEAN PROGRAM
EATING THE SUN (12 ILLUSTRATED ENGRAVED CERAMIC PLATES)
Each plate explores a distinct perspective - historical, biophysical, or rhetorical - relating renewable solar energies to the fundamental needs of humanity.
EATING THE SUN (1) This illustration opens the series, featuring the alchemical figure of the green lion devouring the Sun, accompanied by key quotes that articulate this research.
HUMAN APPROPRIATION OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS (2) Solar energy, continuously converted into biomass by photosynthesis on a planetary scale, is ever more intensively exploited by all human activities (oil, wood, livestock, food, etc.).
ENERGY PYRAMID (3) Photosynthesis, fed by solar radiation, forms the base of the food pyramid, with predators - and today's humans - at the apex.
HUMANS CAN CLAIM ALMOST EVERYTHING (4) Highlights three main errors in contemporary economic discourse, disconnected from reality and at odds with materialist economics.
COSMIC ENERGY FLOW (5) maps how human economics depends on cosmic energy and negotiates delicate balances.
ANTHROPOGENIC DISCHARGE OF THE EARTH-SPACE BATTERY (6) taken from a scientific article, presents the extractivism of modern “developed” lifestyles as an accelerated depletion of the non-renewable part of the terrestrial energy system.
BIOSPHERIC WORK (7) This 19th-century quote reminds us that the energy flows of the biosphere, fed by solar energy, form the basis of the human economy.
BIOECONOMICS (8) a concept promoted by ecological economics pioneer N. Georgescu-Roegen, highlights the interdependence between the economy, energy and biophysical cycles. As such, it underscores the natural limits that shape economic activity.
ENERGY AS UNIVERSAL CURRENCY (9) According to Canadian researcher Vaclav Smil, the energy that animates life and the cosmos constitutes the true basis of our economy, and is the only universal currency.
EDIBLE CURRENCIES (10) Some historical currencies were derived from the products of photosynthesis, embodying an insight into sustainability and intrinsic energy value, in contrast to those based on metals or supposedly immaterial values.
SOLAR FLUX (11) illustrates the decreases in solar energy flux at each stage, from its transit through the Earth's atmosphere to its absorption by photosynthetic organisms, and its use by humans.
EMERGY ACCOUNTING (12) is based on the Emergy model developed by ecologist H. T. Odum, which provides a unit: the "solar equivalent joule" to describe a terrestrial economy based on its primary energy input: the Sun.
European Culture Capital, X-Center, Nova Gorica, 2024 [SI]
Sensing Otherness, MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, 2024-2025 [NL]
The Solar Biennale 2, MUDAC, Lausanne, 2025 [CH]
