ELECTRYON – ALIAS & COMTE/MEUWLY

 

ELECTRYON

ALIAS & COMTE/MEUWLY

 

A mobile solar oven heats water that can be used for cooking, becoming a social gathering place in the process. The discovery of the substation under the Old Botanical Garden UZH led ALIAS & COMTE/MEUWLY to question the distance between energy production and consumption. Through various events, visitors are given the opportunity to engage with the solar energy produced by the installation.

It's quite simple: we will follow the sun and surrender to its power. We will move alongside it, stay beneath it, harness its energy, convert it into heat, boil water, bake bread, enjoy our meals, and move on. When it sets, it's time to depart. And when the sun returns, we will gather, embrace it, and celebrate the rarity of sunshine in this somber botanical garden.

As a result of the relocation of the botanical garden to the city outskirts in the 1970s, the garden, originally established in 1834 on the walls of the Baroque bastion “Zur Katz”, was transformed into a recreational area. Simultaneously, the city of Zurich’s electricity company constructed a substation beneath the bastion: two tunnels housing three transformers that meet the power needs of the city center. The picturesque landscape of the garden conceals the energy distribution, with only small openings and access points providing glimpses of the subterranean machinery.

“Electryon” invites you to engage with energy. During a series of events on the 8th, 9th and 10th of September, visitors are introduced to energy production in a participatory way. At the core of the installation is a solar-powered heat generator, inviting visitors to gather, follow the cooking process and enjoy the meal. The movable solar kitchen will be activated by Kitchuan. Composed of a parabolic mirror that focuses sunlight and stores heat for cooking, the installation uses on-site energy as a design element and operates as a performative device.

ELECTRYON SOLAR COOKING LABORATORY 
Performative cooking by Kitchuan 

layering time - techniques - taste 

Over 3 days, an experimental laboratory of solar cooking is taking place. The making of a dish will be deconstructed into 3 parts to build up its layers. There will be drying, cutting, marinating, roasting, steaming, smoking, kneading and baking. In choosing the vegetables Kitchuan orient towards the sun, the more sun the vegetables needed to grow the better. In the experiments changes in structure and texture are aimed for, identifying tastes through dehydrating and hydrating.

Kitchuan will build a ritual around cooking: The hours of the day influence the strength, power and temperature. 

The final dish uses as a base a Hungarian Pompos, a type of potato-wheat-dough. The base is made of sun vegetables, on top dried tomatoes and herb oil. 

Sunrise 06:54 06:55 06:57
Sunset 19:55 19:49 19:47

The laboratory is open throughout the day, join to experiment, or join for the feast on the last day.

08 09 23 Preparation
09 09 23 Intensification
10 09 23 The Feast (from 17:00)

Project team: Antoine Berchier, Arnaud Bostelmann, Adrien Comte, Lorenza Donati, Shen He, Lewis Horkulak, Nicolas König, Blanka Major, Pierre Marmy, Adrien Meuwly, Juliette Martin, Ansgar Stadler

Supported by Dr. Adolf Streuli Stiftung

Go to Website ALIAS
Go to Website COMTE/MEUWLY

 
 
 

Curators’ Comment

We obtain energy simply and straightforwardly - as a matter of course, from the power outlet. This is done without a direct connection to our solar system, the original elemental source of energy. A team of architects and experts is using the energy of the sun in an installation and applying it for the preparation and processing of food. This project between low and high tech and between research and tradition excited me. An installation that also allows visitors to participate in a supporting program, stimulating debate and discussion. All this shows us a different perspective and points to our handling of energy. (Andreas Saxer).


 
 

Questionary

What does your workplace look like?
A place of experimentation, cables and screens, books, lots of material, prototypes and models or a random latex object. Somewhere between an anonymous space and a workshop.

Which topics do you deal with in your work?
Specific and precise reactions to (ultra) contemporary situations. Driven by the uncontrolled results of the process of reading and re-writing the contextual narratives.

What changes are you currently experiencing in the design world? 
An increasing awareness and interest for what things are and where they come from. How to act? The process tends to have a more valued position than the singular detached object. 

Where do you find inspiration?
In the fascination, the exciting for seemingly ordinary moment of daily life.

What does a normal design process look like for you?
Experimenting, adding, deleting, (dis)assemble, acting and reacting, celebrating the instant of accidents and uncontrolled results.

About

ALIAS & COMTE/MEUWLY are two Zurich-based practices working in the fields of architecture, research, education and cultural production. They cultivate their ability to be surprised and fascinated by unexpected encounters and engage with the spectacular and the ordinary through re-writing, experiments and prototypes.

alias.ooo
comtemeuwly.com

 
Barbara Brandmaier