The Energy Walk: Experimenting with Aesthetic Methods in STS?

Abstract

In 2014 the research group Alien Energy, based at the IT University of Copenhagen, performed an experiment into the potential of creative intervention as an ethnographic method, in researching the development of new energy forms, such as wave- and geothermal energy. To this end the Energy Walk was created: a carefully choreographed and digitally guided audio walk leading the participant around the harbour area of the Danish town Hanstholm, whilst telling stories of energy and infrastructures. In this paper I argue, that the walk manoeuvres a layered landscape of energetic and infrastructural visibility and invisibility, hereby sensitizing the participant to the manifold energy forms constantly present in our daily lives. Drawing on the aesthetic philosophy of John Dewey I argue, that in doing so, the walk effectively facilitates what he calls an aesthetic experience, and suggest that the walk might best be understood in terms of aesthetic experimentation as a relevant method in STS research.