Notions of Expenditure, 2004–2005
This project took form as a website and call for speculative proposals to re-design exercise equipment to generate and store energy; and/or to retrofit gyms to function as local power sources linked to the grid. Eventually 200 posters of 10 different contributed designs were installed on Chicago Transit Authority subway trains in the fall of 2005.
The project was conceived in response to the Iraq war, to extreme discrepancies in wealth between nations and within the U.S., and to excesses of both consumption and production. It drew attention to everyday energy use, and the links between daily practices and larger social and political events and policies.
Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois sponsored the website and supported the CTA deployment.
Participants include:
Heather Clark and Clay Ward, Jeanne Dunning, Wendy Jacob, Louise Lamb, Jeremy and Jamie Boyle, D. Johnson, Carole Lung, Ben Nicholson, Raj Pandian, Anonymous