Planting the seeds of change at ARTernative Energy Art Show
If you plant for one year, plant kalo.
If you plant for 10 years, plant koa.
If you plant for 100 years, teach the children.
~Hawaiian Proverb
As the children of the ancestors before us, we need need to keep learning and planting the seed of change to be more sustainable, more self-reliant and less energy independent to help our future generations. The new ARTernative Energy art show at Gary Hooser’s campaign headquarters aims to educate visitors about the impacts of old and new energies. The exhibit features the work of Sande Robert, Van James and Rodrigo Villarroel.
Walking into the Hooser Headquarters, you immediately see a plethora of protest signs calling for energy reduction scattered across the floor and hung on the walls. Slogans like, “YES Clean Energy” and “Connect. Create. Live Green,” set the mood that this exhibit is a call to action. A sign with “No Boil Oil” on it especially resonated with me, given the Gulf of Mexico tragedy. (I also have to admit, the signage caused a manini flashback to a recent production of Hair at Manoa Valley Theatre that used hundreds of CFL bulbs to light up a giant peace sign above the stage. After the show, the CFL blubs were freecycled to the cast, crew and volunteers.)
Walking through the jungle of signage, you notice Rodrigo Villarroel’s well-lit piece with a floor created from recycling traditional bulbs in homage to the beauty of their design and shape. The bulbs on the floors looked almost bokeh in their roundness and density. Rodrigo created Adam- and Eve-like figures in gold and silver and holding up lights in an interesting unspoken exchange. Speaking to the origins of energy, a sign stating, “pasion es el centro principal donde nace la energia,” was attached to the exhibit.
A piece created by Sande Robert featured a brightly colored and lit up representation of the chakras in a female character built from recycled materials. Considered to be the electrical system within the human body, the chakras are a stark reminder that we are all interconnected by electricity.
Immediately inside the front door is a box connected to a human-powered generator. By spinning the handle, visitors easily light up two CFL bulbs and then, if they strained, could barely light up a traditional, energy wasting light bulb. It was a stark reminder of the changes we have the ability to affect by making choices in our lives.
During the recent First Friday event, visitors to Hooser’s Headquarters were able to trade in conventional light bulbs for new CFL bulbs while listening to slam poet Darron Cambra.
By educating ourselves about how much we are truly impacted by energy and associated costs, we can plant the idea of becoming more efficient with this generation so that instead of building more electrical plants, future generations will be inspired to create and grow other forms of energy. Imua Hawai‘i!
The Hooser Hui 