Why Build a Solar Library?
We are The Last Starfighters, an art support camp that believes in a sustainable burn. Our failures at converting our own small art projects to run on solar power led to the creation of The Solar Library.
The ARP Fail
In 2018 we failed at running the Augmented Reality Porta Potties on solar power. We did not have enough panels and did not account for the impacts of dust. As a result we were running batteries back to camp to charge by generator. But we collected a lot of data and we learned that batteries can be moved around easily by bike & trailer.
The Trailing Soul as Research
In 2019 we applied what we learned in order to run The Trailing Soul on solar power. As mobile art The Soul allowed us to gather data on both the size and effectiveness of panels but also on battery swap. However once deployed we felt the panels were a distraction from the art. We realized that if all art worked this way the playa would be littered with panels not to mention it would require a lot more vehicles and resources just to get the panels to the playa. It did not build a favorable curve for aesthetics, costs or sustainability. The effort & costs put into building and transporting just the panels was equivalent to the effort creating the art.
The Library Concept
So we put our product design hats on and created a solution. We wanted it to be a functional piece of art fit for the playa. The Solar Library also needed to be durable infrastructure that was easy to deploy and easy for artists to use. We also realized it needed to be part of a process that helped the artists understand how to use batteries instead of generators.
