Although investment in wind energy is quickly picking up in the US, personal appreciation and interest in wind energy is relatively low. With the intention of instigating a discussion around personal connection to wind power, I applied for and received a grant from Toyota to initiate the Aeolian Electric Project. I challenged 6 designers to build DIY devices and sculptures that would pique viewers’ curiosity and challenge their ideas on wind energy. The concepts were installed on the shore of the East River in October 2008.

As one of the designers, I built a device called "Wind Tree" that translates the potential energy of the wind into an audible signal in real time. A 3m tall turbine catches wind, and powers the rotation of an audio record, a recording of a human voice.

Other pieces included: an urban nomad’s collapsible wind turbine, an open source turbine built simply of structurally rolled newspaper and cardboard, a mechanical ornithopter built with actual bird wings, an assembly of mirrors angled by the wind, and a colorful kaleidoscopic double pinwheel.

Visitors examine one of the pieces at the Aeolian Electric opening, a vertical axis turbine constructed of rolled newspaper and cardboard.

"MirrorSail" in the foreground and "Wind Tree" in the distance.

Aeolian Electric was covered by the website Inhabitat on October 11th, 2008. Click here to read the article.