The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice

This text is an investigation of battery technologies and planned obsolescence in the context of energy consumption, electronic waste and environmental crisis as brought on by current communication technologies. Tracing the battery’s formative histories, the text examines its messy chemistries, enta...

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Autor principal:	Samir Bhowmik
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	ScholarWorks @ UMass Amherst 2019
Materias:	Language and Literature P Communication. Mass media P87-96
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a3d73b6bc51447d8bcbdb7d68a4ce81e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a3d73b6bc51447d8bcbdb7d68a4ce81e2021-11-17T15:28:19ZThe Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice10.7275/jxt9-pc042380-6109https://doaj.org/article/a3d73b6bc51447d8bcbdb7d68a4ce81e2019-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cpo/vol7/iss2/2/https://doaj.org/toc/2380-6109This text is an investigation of battery technologies and planned obsolescence in the context of energy consumption, electronic waste and environmental crisis as brought on by current communication technologies. Tracing the battery’s formative histories, the text examines its messy chemistries, entanglements with portable computing to current extraction of constituent minerals of Lithium and Cobalt as bundled into contemporary media devices. Building on Hertz and Parikka’s Media Archaeology as an Art Method, the author aims to extend this research and critique into an energy art practice. Here, media archaeology becomes a method to conduct critical and artistic examinations of media technologies as concerned with energy and ecology. The text demonstrates this approach through the study of the Community Power Bank (2016-18), a community-participated energy art project in Helsinki. The project recycled Lithium-ion batteries through Do-It-Yourself (DIY) workshops, hacking and dismantling, and co-constructing power banks amidst discussion about e-waste and ecological concerns among community participants. The project also catalyzed conversations about the political economy of contemporary black-boxed technologies and the intertwined issues of energy, resource depletion and environmental impact.Samir BhowmikScholarWorks @ UMass AmherstarticleLanguage and LiteraturePCommunication. Mass mediaP87-96ENcommunication +1, Vol 7, Iss 2 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Language and Literature P Communication. Mass media P87-96
spellingShingle	Language and Literature P Communication. Mass media P87-96 Samir Bhowmik The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice
description	This text is an investigation of battery technologies and planned obsolescence in the context of energy consumption, electronic waste and environmental crisis as brought on by current communication technologies. Tracing the battery’s formative histories, the text examines its messy chemistries, entanglements with portable computing to current extraction of constituent minerals of Lithium and Cobalt as bundled into contemporary media devices. Building on Hertz and Parikka’s Media Archaeology as an Art Method, the author aims to extend this research and critique into an energy art practice. Here, media archaeology becomes a method to conduct critical and artistic examinations of media technologies as concerned with energy and ecology. The text demonstrates this approach through the study of the Community Power Bank (2016-18), a community-participated energy art project in Helsinki. The project recycled Lithium-ion batteries through Do-It-Yourself (DIY) workshops, hacking and dismantling, and co-constructing power banks amidst discussion about e-waste and ecological concerns among community participants. The project also catalyzed conversations about the political economy of contemporary black-boxed technologies and the intertwined issues of energy, resource depletion and environmental impact.
format	article
author	Samir Bhowmik
author_facet	Samir Bhowmik
author_sort	Samir Bhowmik
title	The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice
title_short	The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice
title_full	The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice
title_fullStr	The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice
title_full_unstemmed	The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice
title_sort	battery is the message: media archaeology as an energy art practice
publisher	ScholarWorks @ UMass Amherst
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/a3d73b6bc51447d8bcbdb7d68a4ce81e
work_keys_str_mv	AT samirbhowmik thebatteryisthemessagemediaarchaeologyasanenergyartpractice AT samirbhowmik batteryisthemessagemediaarchaeologyasanenergyartpractice
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The Battery is the Message: Media Archaeology as an Energy Art Practice

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