Description:
From July 8 to August 28 [2021], theatre innovators Boca del Lupo are inviting you to work off your guilt over our pending environmental disaster, and help them charge up their Granville Island storefront at the same time. [1]
Boca del Lupo’s Net Zero project invites you, our community, to visit us on Granville Island and engage in a discussion with us about our big questions and for you to bring yours. We can talk to you about hopeful solutions for the world’s big problems, and you can help us charge our Big Battery; our interactive installation and first real-world attempt to drive the technology of our space with the pedal power of our community.
A continuation of our Expedition project, the centrepiece of Boca del Lupo’s Net Zero installation this summer is a real world experiment we are calling the Climate Change Penance Project. This project is designed to harness all that guilt you are feeling about climate change, and drive it into finding hopeful and practical solutions, in a fun and tongue in cheek way. It involves two Spin Bikes that we have retrofitted to include a dynamo generator and some custom electronic sensors. The dynamo charges the battery that runs all our technical gear at Boca del Lupo’s space. The sensors are connected to a piece of software on an iPad that we have developed to help you assess and then work off your “climate guilt.”
Come on down to Boca del Lupo on Granville Island at the Fishbowl. There, one of our Climate Guilt Coaches will help you translate your guilt into quantifiable Climate Guilt Units that you can melt away on our spin bike that’s charging our studio’s batteries. If generating power isn’t enough, we’ve commandeered the difficulty lever on the bike and turned it into a Martyrdom Knob. This won’t help generate any more power, but it will make it harder on you and contribute to reducing your Climate Guilt Units at a faster rate.
But in the end, it’s all about a conversation, with Net Zero we are asking ourselves “What can we do as an organization, as a theatre company, to do better for our planet?” “What actions, large or small, can we take to reduce our companies carbon footprint?” We are talking everything from cleaning out our Ziplock bags to beehives on roof tops. We are thinking renewable energy to drive our technology. We are reconsidering what it means to tour artistic works in a digitally connected world. And we are asking you to come on down to Granville Island and take part in that conversation with us. [2]
Boca Del Lupo’s artistic director Sherry Yoon says: “It’s the scientists that provide the data, and the politicians that create the policy, but it’s the artists that will speak to the heart of the people.” The Climate Change Penance project doesn’t claim to be solving environmental issues on a global scale—in fact, the entire installation is riddled with a kind of sass and whimsy that’s not often included in conversations around climate. [3]
References:
[1] Smith, Janet. “Stir Q&A: Pedal Power and PLANETARY Penance at Boca DEL Lupo's New Net Zero Installation.” Stir. Stir, July 6, 2021. https://www.createastir.ca/articles/boca-del-lupo-net-zero.
[2] “Net Zero.” Boca del Lupo. Accessed August 13, 2021. https://bocadellupo.com/netzero/.
[3] Mckenzie, Ryan, and Kevin Hinton. “This New Granville Island Art Installation Will Help You Work off That Climate Change Guilt.” Vancouver Magazine, July 8, 2021. https://www.vanmag.com/This-New-Granville-Island-Art-Installation-Will-Help-You-Work-Off-That-Climate-Change-Guilt.
Additional information:
“Net Zero.” Granville Island, July 9, 2021. https://granvilleisland.com/events/net-zero.
Project Title: Climate Change Penance Project
Artists: Boca Del Lupo
Year: 2021
Place: Granville Island, British Columbia
Activism, B.C., BC, British Columbia, City, conservation, Exhibit, exhibition organization, Functional, Outdoor, Play, Public, Sculpture, Temporary, Urban