Harnessing the sun as an energy source is of great inter- est in this age of energy crises, and holds our imagination because of its quiet, seemingly magical properties. Photo- voltaic technologies have grown quickly over the past 20...
moreHarnessing the sun as an energy source is of great inter- est in this age of energy crises, and holds our imagination because of its quiet, seemingly magical properties. Photo- voltaic technologies have grown quickly over the past 20 years, and more and more applications of solar power are finding use today. In the arts, solar power is often used as energy sources for public artworks, as a practical matter. These systems typically work in conjunction with batter- ies or other sources of energy in order to ensure a constant voltage and power level. However, an alternate approach is to design the work to use the sun’s energy directly, and exclusively, with the sunlight itself as a functional param- eter of the material. In this paper, we examine the use of photovoltaics in the direct production of sound as a func- tion of its existence. These solarsonic works are designed to use the sun in the same way that wind-based artworks use the wind: they are activated directly, and are totally dependent on the light available in the moment. We sur- vey solarsonic works by several artists, and discuss a se- ries of works by the author, and conclude with a look at what the future may bring.
