Artist Talk - Digitale Kunst: Kris De Decker

How (not) to build a solar powered internet

We were told that the Internet would “dematerialize” society and decrease energy use. Contrary to this projection, it has become a large and rapidly growing consumer of energy itself. Renewable energy can be part of the solution, but the trend towards growing energy use must also be addressed.

Kris De Decker is the author of Low-tech Magazine, a publication that refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution. Since 2018, Low-tech Magazine runs on a self-hosted, solar powered server. De Decker also wrote for the Demand Centre at Lancaster University (UK), which researches energy demand in relation to social practices, and is the co-founder of the Human Power Plant, an art project that investigates the possibilities of human power production in a modern society.

solar.lowtechmagazine.com