Active energy (2007 - 2020)

Active Energy is a conceptual arts-led research project involving interdisciplinary and intergenerational engagement. A creative arts facilitation process has been used to tap into community expertise and support seniors and young people in exploring how renewable energy can benefit their East London community.
The project was instigated twelve years ago by artist and researcher Dr. Loraine Leeson to explore why the life experience of older people had been failing to inform new developments in technology. Work with a seniors group The Geezers at an AgeUK centre led to a focus on renewable energy identified by the group since older people could often not afford to heat their homes, while the tidal River Thames nearby was not being tapped for its energy potential. Initial work included low-cost turbines developed for tide and wind, together with exhibitions and conference presentations in the UK and USA. Each stage in the project used the arts to draw out local knowledge and bring these ideas to public attention to inform wider discourse.
Since 2016 work has focused on the creation and installation of floating water wheels in a Thames tidal basin and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, supported by AHRC and Lottery amongst other sources of funding. Tidal flow has been harnessed to drive a pump that oxygenates the water to keep fish alive at times of high pollution. An educational programme for secondary school and college students has run alongside this work and celebrated at a public event in the Park in 2019. Canal and River Trust are proposing taking over the latest wheel and replicating it for other sites. Both this organisation and the secondary school wish to incorporate the learning materials from the project into their future curricula.
Active energy - a socially engaged project, process-based with a series of interconnected outputs.