The local agency for the energy and the cli­mate, ALEC, laun­ched « Seeds of the Future » in octo­ber 2013. This art com­pe­ti­tion open to stu­dents of Rhone-Alpes aims to explore inno­va­tive pat­terns regar­ding the energy tran­si­tion. The two win­ning pro­jects were pre­sen­ted to the public at the Experimenta Fair, orga­ni­zed in octo­ber in Grenoble. A clo­ser look at this experimentation.

© Rémy Vigneron

Revealing young artis­tic talents while rai­sing awa­re­ness on the energy tran­si­tion, this is the goal pur­sued by ALEC (local agency for energy and cli­mate), in part­ner­ship with Ageden, Ateliers Arts Sciences and Hespul when they laun­ched the « Seeds of the Future » pro­ject in octo­ber 2013.

« Our orga­ni­za­tions aim to raise awa­re­ness and gather all the actors of the energy tran­si­tion. While it’s easy to col­la­bo­rate with insi­ders already convin­ced, we wish to broa­den our scope. Art is a way to appeal to stu­dents and a lar­ger audience. It’s a less for­mal and scien­ti­fic approach » explains Genevieve Goubel, pro­ject mana­ger at ALEC in Grenoble.

Two artis­tic pro­jects for one cause

© Daphné Madec

Between january and march, a pro­fes­sio­nal jury selec­ted two pro­jects based on their easi­ness to repro­duce and the effec­ti­ve­ness of their message.

The first, entit­led « Train-Train » was crea­ted by Daphne Madec, a student from the Lyon Emile Cohl School of Arts. With a touch of humor, she pre­sents 5 comics explo­ring the conse­quences of our daily rou­tines on the envi­ron­ment. The dra­wings are simple, clear, fun and effec­ti­vely invi­ting to a per­so­nal check.

The second win­ner, Remy Vigneron, student at the Grenoble School of Architecture co-crea­ted with Nicolas Huille a piece cal­led « Eolitale », urban fur­ni­ture piece of art ope­ra­ting with solar energy. The light­ning works on a solar panel, lithium bat­te­ries and a tai­lor-made LED system.

Raising awa­re­ness effectively

The expe­ri­men­ta­tion was a suc­cess, howe­ver will not be met by more fun­dings. Genevieve Goubel feels it remains a great idea, mixing science and art, and a fabu­lous way to raise awa­re­ness with the public. « Now we’re thin­king about the best use of this art in our faci­li­ties, per­haps publish Daphne Madec’s comics or sell Remy Vigneron’s urban fur­ni­ture to local com­mu­ni­ties. »

© Rémy Vigneron

Article by Mailys Medjadj

Translation by Cécile Boussier