Tom Šebestíková

Sensing Electricity
A nonlinear rite of passage of spacial interventions.

It has no colour, shape, smell, taste nor form -- it's practically imperceivable. Still, it's everywhere around us ‑- electricity. Is it possible to unreveal the process behind the electricity switch for the user, by making the user witness the electricity production? How to make the phenomena of electricity more sensible?

The goal of my project is to narrate the hidden layers behind the history of electricity. Electricity went through a lot of development in the past 150 years. I want to pinpoint some key inventions in the history of electricity to highlight their experimental character and impact on society.

Through my research, I recognized four key categories in the history of electricity: Nature|Movement|Communication|Torture. Some experiments from these categories I scale up and transform these into spatial designs with the aim to reach a heightened state of energy awareness. These designs are interrelated and together they form a "Passage of Electricity." The location of this passage is at Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, since this is the largest centre of power production and innovation in the Netherlands.

I want the visitor of the Maasvlakte to be able to have a sensory experience of electricity in an immersive and meditative setting.