Park Road Boardwalk, Noosa Heads
Do you ever wonder about how much actual – physical – space is required to sustain this seemingly exponential growth in data storage, let alone the resources and power to run it? I do. I mean, Google alone has over 70 data centres around the world (at least, that’s what a Google search told me). And a separate Google search told me that the biggest of these (‘hyperscale facilities’ – they actually have a term for them at this scale) could be as big as 88,000 square meters. That’s 11 times the average Bunnings Store (surely a better universal measure than the usual ‘Olympic Swimming Pool’ or the MCG).
And what about the processing power of AI? As it becomes more and more embedded in anything and everything, it’s only going to increase. I mean, our need for power for everything seems like it will inevitably increase. Renewables… sure. But will there come a point where we’ve hit our limit (not in an anti-renewable, what-do-you-do-when-the-sun-doesn’t-shine-and-the-wind-doesn’t-blow kind of way – surely you know me well enough by now?!)? Maybe we need to have a bit more skin in the game.
Laura Woodward has an idea.
Three sets of large, tourist-style binoculars have been mounted to picturesque vantage points along the Park Road Boardwalk at Noosa Heads, taking advantage of the unequalled view across the subtropic playground of Little Cove and Noosa Main Beach. But take a closer look through these viewing apparatuses and you’ll see that leisure comes with strings – or cables – attached. Each of us has to contribute energy to the system that we all draw on, and Woodward’s vision for, or of, the future sees that energy being extracted directly from the human body.
It puts a new spin on the idea that Noosa is the place you escape to in order to recharge your batteries.
ARTIST BIO
Laura Woodward has been creating sculptural kinetic installations for several years, exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia. Her current explorations focus on the potential of system-based kinetic installations, where the system’s inherent logic drives its formal and systematic emergence. Over recent years her focus has expanded and projects have considered ideas related to parenthood, life-giving, relationships, and death.
These binoculars show a future where people make energy with their bodies to power machines, making us think about energy and its impact.
