Waste to Work

A collaborative project by Daniela Kostova and Olivia Robinson.

Waste to Work explores the transformation of labor into electric power, using sweat as the link. Sweat is the perfect medium: it is an electrolyte that can be used to make galvanic batteries - "waste" that can be harvested from our labors - and remains an extremely personal commodity that holds our scent, essential salts, fats, pheromones. This project has multiple phases: building sweat batteries and sweat harvesting suits.

The first edition of Wast to Work was a site specific installation at the Schenectady Museum of Science and Art. Inspired by the history and significance of General Electric to the local Schenectady community, this installation focused on visualizing global electrical power and physical labor. The installation was in a triptych format: a display of sweat batteries, a video of the process of collecting sweat, and an electrified map. We videotaped while collecting sweat from individuals living in New York state during our tee shirt exchange effort, and then we used the sweat and recycled containers to create 250 batteries. A system of wires (much like arteries and veins) connects these "organic" batteries to an illuminated LED world map based on the NASA satellite photo of the Earth at night. At the opening, the map was illuminated by the artists and audience as together they "charged" the batteries by adding the collected human sweat to the display of recycled bottles and creating electricity.