Solar Instruments. A set of instruments to encourage playful interactions with the Sun.

Solar Instruments was shown at the Oslo Architecture Triennale in 2019, consisting of a set of objects designed to slow down the daily domestic routine by encouraging regular playful interactions with the Sun in the home. The devices engage the senses, encouraging various ways to listen, touch, watch, meditate, navigate and dance with the sunshine and its effects. We made multiple copies of the items, which were displayed in the borrowing library at the Triennale, and were loaned out for experimentation and play.

In line with the Triennale’s theme of Degrowth, the instruments aim to facilitate the space for the imagining of an alternative societal structure that does not incentivise social and environmental breakdown. By translating empirical data into items that can be interacted with on a daily basis, we aim to encourage a sense of our place under our star and a closer relationship with our energy source. The proposal taps into the idea of play as a cultural act that can free us from the confines of the growth paradigm and expand our understanding of how urban space is imagined, perceived, used, discussed, controlled and planned.