Raus aus der Biotonne!

  Major components of our project “Raus aus der Biotonne” (From Waste to Watts) were realized last weekend at the “Long Night of the Sciences” event held at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Berlin-Wannsee: pupils from both the Andreas Gymnasium (art) and the Evangelische Schule Neukölln (chemistry) were on hand to show their work and answer myriad questions from a curious public. In addition, artists Franz John and Michael Rodemer mounted an installation, “93 Million Miles Away” in and around one of the trees on the grounds.

  And of course, the scientific personnel of the Helmholtz Zentrum offered fascinating demonstrations and exhibits, ranging from the storing of excess solar or wind energy as hydro-electric potential, to air cushion vehicles on which visitors could ride. Our projects offered an esthetic and technical complement to the exhibits of the scientists.

Our pupils’ works all utilized light as an element.

  Gregor and Akeem, for instance, bent a copper tube into a stylized lightning bolt and outfitted it with white and blue LED’s; these were activated by an Arduino microcontroller board, which they learned to program in the workshop offered by Michael Rodemer in early May. The LED’s flashed intensely at intervals, piercing the night.

  The lighthouse built by Anna, Mandy and Anuschka used pulsating LED’s at its base to suggest the action of water; above, three circular groups of LED’s glowed alternately, depending on the level of the agitation of the “water” below: green for calm activity, yellow for more active lights, and red for the most violent flashing of the lights below. This piece was also driven by a microcontroller.

  Madeleine and Elisa created a stylized Earth with LED’s glowing from each continent, analogous to satellite photos of Earth at night; the continents were reflected in pieces of mirror glass that “orbited” the globe, catching light from the planet, as well as images of the viewer and the surroundings.

  One of the pupils’ pieces,  a model of a silicon atom by Hai and Trung, was interactive, using an ultrasonic rangefinder iin conjunction with a microcontroller to gauge the viewer’s proximity: the closer viewers came, the faster the circling “electron” LED’s changed, and the more rapidly the red “nucleus” pulsated. The increased activity level on the part of the artwork was intended to symbolize increased commitment by the viewer to solar energy, most commonly identified in the public’s mind with silicon.

  By far, not all the attention was on silicon, however: the pupils displayed the Grätzel cells they had made in the workshop with Franz John and their teacher in chemistry Oliver Heimrod, along with demonstration Grätzel cells provided by the Solaronix company of Switzerland. Public interest in these organic solar cells ran high, and the pupils responded to the questions posed by scores of visitors. Two large posters presenting summaries of the two workshops flanked the info-table and helped the pupils in their explanations by providing ready visual illustrations of their work.

          Pupils (Adrian, Anita, Gina & Trung) were demonstrating Grätzel cells to public

 

 

As darkness fell, the light installation by Franz John and Michael Rodemer began to attract attention.

  “93 Million Miles Away ...” was the title of the work that utilized electroluminescent fibres to suggest the paths taken by rays of light as they fall upon the leaves of a tree on the Helmholtz campus.

  “Electricity from solar cells is miraculous: using clever technologies, we can capture abundant and free sunshine and turn it into the spark of electricity, with which we can change our lives. With this installation, we want to gather this energy at the Helmholtz Zentrum in order to let it shine as a light in the night.”

                                                               
  The “Long Night of the Sciences” ended at 1:00 a.m. as we dismantled the info-stand and the artworks, pleased at the level of interaction with the public, the pupils’ participation and engagement, and the aesthetic success of the artworks shown.

Photographs: Tania Kelley

Art Project: 93 Million Miles Away, (c) Franz John, Michael Rodemer

related info: Weblog Michael Rodemer