Watt is Art
26 March 2021 - 25 April 2021 | EPFL
Solar panels and Art in the same sentence? Art blended into our day-to-day objects like solar panels, a collaboration between artists and scientists, Watt is Art is a glimpse into what is possible in the realm of future architecture and building design. The exhibition will be displayed at EPFL Pavilions until April 25th.
As our world slowly finds its way towards sustainability, EPFL Pavilions is excited to showcase the groundbreaking work of Compáz and Be-Smart, an EU research project that aims to step up the deployment of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and cut their costs by 75% by 2030. The project was launched in October 2018 in response to EU regulations that require new buildings to be nearly energy neutral.
They've imagined "boldly-artistic multifunctional solar panels" that are meant to bust through preconceptions associated with what solar panels can do and what they could do.
Watt is Art opened on March 26th with a virtual tour of the exhibition. and will be diplayed until April 25th at EPFL Pavilions A.
"While it’s true that these panels have evolved from photovoltaic technology, we have embraced the term ‘energy positive glazing’ or EPoG. They are construction materials like glass, so they need to be robust but will appear on the outside of [the] building so they have to be considered for their aesthetic qualities. Of course, they are also environmentally beneficial and they generate value. At the Watt is Art exhibition, we’ll have a chance to demonstrate some potential that will surprise anyone who only thinks of a solar panel as a uniform black square."
Laure-Emmanuelle Perret, coordinator of the project at EPFL’s Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory (PV-Lab)
How to see the exhibition:
