LIT
OUTDOOR / INDOOR FOUNTAIN & PUBLIC CHARGING STATION
RESEARCH
What is a style room in the 21st century?
Gold, a rare element and a major driving force of the 17th century, which allowed Amsterdam's 1% to build canal houses with 'style rooms', that showed of their high social status through accumulated treasures from colonialist adventures. As it appears, the 1% aren’t as special as they used to be, not only because most of us today experience similar things and feelings, but also because today's treasures are much more common. These treasures are mostly based on a different element – lithium, and it may be considered as "the new gold". It's a valuable commodity which has multiple applications that are key for fulfilling needs of the 21st century. From giving life to mobile electronics (batteries), to preventing-suicide in humans (drugs), lithium may be seen as a new basic ingredient for humanity’s future and a new global addiction that all man-kind will soon have.
A STORY ABOUT LITHIUM (MP3 + PDF)
CONCEPT
LIT
Staying true to the style room's values and uses of accumulation, pride and entertainment, only in modern contexts of hyper-connectedness, access to information and sharing. It is both an informative installation that tells the story of lithium through an audio narrative, and a public battery charging station that connects the canal house owner with the public through a fountain that runs both outside and inside.
The fountain attempts to connect all social statuses together through a common need - lithium. The fountain's stream stops when a device is connected to the charging station, to visually demonstrate the act of sharing electricity by the canal house owner with the person the street. If two devices are connected, the fountain's stream switches between on and off, to symbolize the ever-present symptoms of bi-polar disorder in today's society.
The sink has been hand-made by 'Ben's Metal Shaping Shop', and the full copper body of the fountain will color itself over time in similar blues and greens as lithium itself.
