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Solstices énergétiques / Energy solstices
Anaïs met den Ancxt


This project is concerned with annual daylight saving times, which are considered as two Energy solstices. They symbolise the transition between the two energy seasons – summer and winter – with the initial purpose of saving the energy used in artificial lighting.

Over the years, the benefits of daylight saving times have gradually been whittled away. The purpose today would be to transform them into seasonal rituals with a symbolic dimension.

If daylight saving times have created a relationship between our bodies and energy by shifting our internal clock first one way and then the other, the Energy solstices explore this relationship by opening a universe that has broken away from the normal pattern of life. They are experienced by means of a story, through objects and through symbolic actions specific to this out-of-the-ordinary space/time, and provide symbolic images of energy.

Extracts ... 

One hour of light
(LED, Small clock wind-up key, Battery)
This light bulb is for use at Winter energy solstice time, when night falls one hour earlier. Its small clock wind-up key produces a symbolic hour of light.

The Energy Solstice Game
Using the fairytale as a starting point, the game creates an initiatory voyage in the shape of a game of goose, and users make the oracle language to describe the energy seasons. Together the players build up a cloud, the symbolic and meteorological representation of energy.

A Tale of Energy
This metaphorical tale is based on drawings that show an out-of-the-ordinary reality that makes energy more vibrant, more intuitive, more affordable. In the box, the fairytale takes the form of a mythological and a graphical reference.

Domestication des énergies sauvages

Recto-verso clock
This clock plays the out-of-ordinary timescales of the energy Solstices. It starts at midnight on Sunday, and allows for a gentler, more gradual time change by providing a slightly slower time scale (Winter time) or slightly faster (Summer time) (three to four days are required on average in order to ‘update’ one’s internal clock). 

The last Sunday in March:
Summer energy Solstice (+ one hour)
It’s as if two minutes 30 seconds were swallowed up every hour.
This 23 hour day is the shortest day of the year.
Its second-rhythm is faster than normal.

The last Sunday in October:
Winter energy Solstice (+ one hour)
It’s as if an extra two minutes 30 seconds were created every hour.
This 25 hour day is the longest day of the year.
Its second-rhythm is slower than normal.

The Solstice Marmiton
The symbolic dessert of the energy Solstices combines a taste with a gesture, an object, energy savings (watts) and bodily energy (calories).
The ‘marmiton’ (cooking pot) contains the dessert that will finish being cooked on the table during the meal. It is made up of seasonal fruits with a distinct nut and chestnut flavour for the Winter energy Solstice, and an orange flavour for the summer energy Solstice.

The recipe:
- 10 minutes in the bain-marie (double boiler)
During this time, the heat accumulates.
The container is then taken off the hot plate and placed in the closed marmiton.
- the food will continue cooking throughout the meal thanks to the heat stored in the marmiton
- 30 minutes later, it’s ready!

Ingredients:
Wall made of terracotta (faience) + air: the dessert uses its own heat to get cooked. As with a Norwegian marmiton, there is a 50 % of energy savings in cooking.
The marmiton, which is a stainless steel container, swings from one person to another just like a punching bag.

Energy solstice calendar
At energy Solstice, there is a change in our relationship to natural and artificial light. This perpetual calendar, in the form of a flip-book, contains 365 leaves. It underscores the two energy Solstices by displaying that way the sunset hour gradually changes throughout the year.

Energy rest during summer hours
When changing over to summer daylight saving time, our body loses one hour of sleep between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. We get that hour of sleep back between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on the same day or the following day, in the company of our family, at work or at school.

Previous exhibition of Solstices énergétiques

Scenocosme : Gregory Lasserre & Anais met den Ancxt - www.scenocosme.com