Workshops >
Series of workshops leading to building an Electric Garden
> January~April 2025 > Critical Infrastructure Lab, University of Amsterdam
✂ The three workshops in series, that leads up to building an electricity producing garden in University of Amsterdam (UvA). The hosting party is the Critical Infrastructure Lab of UvA ︎.
✂ Critical Infrastructure Lab is a group of researchers, in the field of Media Studies.
“ We research power and contestation in communication infrastructures. the critical infrastructure lab aims to co-develop alternative infrastructural futures that center people and planet over profit and capital. we develop research insights, policy recommendations, and build community around three overlapping areas: geopolitics, standards, environment.”
They invited artist Sunjoo Lee to come and share the knowledge of building an electricity producing garden.
✂ The lab started gathering mud from different wetlands in Amsterdam. Especially they focused on getting mud from polluted canals. Some places had no-swimming sign up because of the heavy pollution from biological waste or heavy metals. The city pollutes their waters, and this pollution can become a rich nutrient source for electrogenic bacteria. Some scientific papers are published about certain geobacter subspecies (the species of bacteria that produce electricity) that are able to benefit from heavy metal pollutions, and even sometimes mitigate the pollution by converting the metals’ chemical structures.
✂Also the lab made a battery with Kombucha jar as an experiment.
✂The third workshop will be held in April 2025. It will be about building the energy harvesting circuits.
✂ Critical Infrastructure Lab is a group of researchers, in the field of Media Studies.
“ We research power and contestation in communication infrastructures. the critical infrastructure lab aims to co-develop alternative infrastructural futures that center people and planet over profit and capital. we develop research insights, policy recommendations, and build community around three overlapping areas: geopolitics, standards, environment.”
They invited artist Sunjoo Lee to come and share the knowledge of building an electricity producing garden.
✂ The lab started gathering mud from different wetlands in Amsterdam. Especially they focused on getting mud from polluted canals. Some places had no-swimming sign up because of the heavy pollution from biological waste or heavy metals. The city pollutes their waters, and this pollution can become a rich nutrient source for electrogenic bacteria. Some scientific papers are published about certain geobacter subspecies (the species of bacteria that produce electricity) that are able to benefit from heavy metal pollutions, and even sometimes mitigate the pollution by converting the metals’ chemical structures.
✂Also the lab made a battery with Kombucha jar as an experiment.
✂The third workshop will be held in April 2025. It will be about building the energy harvesting circuits.
