The exhibit — run by Mozilla Creative Media Awardee Solar Protocol — will debut April 22 in New York City

(NEW YORK CITY | APRIL 11, 2023) -- An audio essay about blacksmithing in Ghana. A catalog of all SpaceX satellites and what dates they’ll become obsolete. A web-based game where the player is a communications repairman.

These artworks may at first appear to have little in common. But they’re all part of “Sun Thinking,” an April 22 exhibition by the 2022 Mozilla Creative Media Awardee Solar Protocol.

Solar Protocol is a planetary network of solar-powered, open-source web servers created by Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson, and Benedetta Piantella. And “Sun Thinking” is a collection of artworks and texts that embody its principles, like low-carbon cultural practices, energy-centered design, and decentralized, DIY networks.

For example, the Ghanaian audio essay — by artist Hakeem Adam — explores the relationship between technology and natural resources. The SpaceX catalog — by artists Rory Gillen and Anna Madeleine Raupach — comments on obsolete hardware. And the web-based repair game — by artist Everest Pipkin — unpacks the labor of network maintenance.

In total, 16 works will be exhibited, spanning mediums from the written word to browser-based animations. The event will feature a short talk from each artist. Solar Protocol opened a call for proposals in November 2022.

Says Tega Brain, an Australian artist and co-creator of Solar Protocol: “This exhibit critically and playfully explores the qualities and characteristics of solar-power as a medium. It also explores the materiality of computation, life within planetary limits, and environmental perspectives on intelligence.”

This exhibit critically and playfully explores the qualities and characteristics of solar-power as a medium. It also explores the materiality of computation, life within planetary limits, and environmental perspectives on intelligence.

Tega Brain, of Solar Protocol

The event will be hybrid: Participants can attend via Zoom, or attend a small in-person event at LARPA's studio in Bushwick, NYC on Saturday, April 22 from 12pm - 2pm ET. Tickets are available here.

Artists and contributors to “Sun Thinking” include: Hakeem Adam, Honor Ash, Stephanie Dick, Marloes de Valk, Rory Gillen and Anna Madeleine Raupach, Felix Lenz, Mark Anthony Hernández Motaghy, Jen Liu, Kristin Lucas and Joe McKay, Anne Pasek, Allison Parrish, Everest Pipkin, Brian Sutherland, Roopa Vasudevan, Denzel Wamburu, and Alice Yuan Zhang.

The curatorial team includes: Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson, Benedetta Piantella, and Kate Silzer. Exhibition web design by Samantha Seurynck Griffith.

Press contact: Kevin Zawacki | [email protected] | +1 (914) 837-4333