Dubai land art/power plant design competition
Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" (1970); one of Dubai's Palm Islands in construction.
The Land Art Generator Initiative is hosting an international design competition to design outdoor public art installations that generate renewable energy–in Dubai. While the United Arab Emirates has made most of its wealth by exploiting oil reserves, Dubai has become an international hub for innovative architecture and infrastructure projects due to its dizzyingly rapid pace of development. Two American artists who live in the city have organized the competition, working with the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council and the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, to explore opportunities for aesthetic intervention as renewable energy production facilities become more intertwined with real estate development. Proposed projects must produce no negative environmental impacts and must be accompanied by an environmental impact assessment. There are no limits on the type of energy generation employed, so long as it is tested.
Examples of potential proposals here revisit the land art movement: sculptural wave energy accumulators; a photovoltaic outdoor video installation; a PV-based camera obscura pavilion. Project organizers continue to seed inspiration for proposals on their blog. No word on whether or how winning proposals will be built, but since so many otherwise-unbelievable projects do make their way to construction in Dubai, there is no ruling out the possibility. Submission deadline is June 4th.
(via Treehugger)
