Solar powered art

By Amber Forrest-Bisley April 2002

AN INNER-city artist is playing his part in fast-tracking the use of solar energy to purify our water.

Placebo artist Graham Chalcroft is teaching the principles of both solar still water purification and the design of solar still sculpture in his ongoing workshops. In an ecological fusion of art and science, the Solar Stills Sculpture Project (SSSP) is creating highly original designs.

Assisted by South Sydney Council and funded by the Australian Council for the Arts Community Cultural Development Fund, the workshops use locally available recycled and reused material. Charlcroft said the principles of solar distillation have been around for centuries and stills remain one of the oldest devices to provide drinking water.

"Solar stills are simple maintenance free devices that purify water using the suns radiation,'' he said. "They operate on the same principal as the Earth's hydrological cycle of water evaporation and rainfall. As impure water is fed into the solar still, and only pure distilled water evaporates, it forms a condensate which can then be harnessed.''

Based on the principles of sustainable development, solar stills use a 'free' and renewable energy, require minimum maintenance, are environmentally friendly, and produce high quality water. He adds: "The Project aims to develop community interest and awareness in solar still water purification through sculptural workshops, to produce designs and possibly completed stills in areas where they can be used in an ongoing manner."

Through workshops at Darlington and Waterloo Public Schools and St Mary's Catholic School, Erskineville, students have designed water collector sculpture fabricated from natural resources like leaves, branches and twigs, as well as PET bottles, straws, reflective silver card, irrigation pipes and wire. "Even corks were used to make insect water striders float on water," Chalcroft said. Other classes fashioned PET bottles into flowers, and the collected water was fed into office water dispenser bottles.

Chalcroft and his team have also been conducting SSSP workshops at other proposed sites, including Sydney Park, The Addison Road Centre, The Woolloomooloo Community Gardens, and the Permaculture Community Garden, at the Ecoliving Center UNSW.

Criteria evolved for solar still concepts at potential sites, where function and productivity verse aesthetic, art and education priorities could be reflected in ‘still’ sculptural designs. Functional aspects such as user needs for shade, drinking water and seating as well as place marking influenced designs. Designs were also encouraged to utilise sensory properties particularly the relaxing sight and sound of pure water, alongside the ability to utilize available water sources, such as rainwater and run-off.

The reclaimed dumpsite, now transformed into Sydney Park, provides a perfect location for the aesthetic contribution of solar stills, with its dehydrated landscape, and adolescent plant life. The relatively new park has invoked a diverse variety of individual concepts, including an elephant design solar still that pays homage to the truth, or urban myth of the circus elephant supposedly buried in the Park, and Lotus flower based designs, utilizing the still as the central component, with petal surrounds. Circular glass spiral designs were also suggested, allowing distilled water to run through clear pipes and audiences to view the process, adding educational purpose to the experience.

A solar still workshop for the Woolloomooloo Community Gardens site will be held with young people from the local youth centre drop-in, as part of the Youth Week activities on April 7. On Wednesday April 10 or Friday April 12 a free public workshop will be held at the Permaculture Community Garden, in Randwick.

The possibility of solar distillation however is not limited to the urban environment. "The overall low-cost and simplicity of solar stills make them attractive to small remote communities too," Charlcroft said.