Artworks
Afterlife, 2009
James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau
United Kingdom
Installation (wooden coffin and steel stand, fuel cell made from acrylic, nylon and steel components)
James Auger, Jimmy Loizeau (UK). Afterlife, 2009. Research project, photo courtesy the artists. 2009 James Auger, Jimmy Loizeau
The Afterlife project is intended to instigate a metaphysical dialogue, examining the cultural shift from belief systems upheld by organized religion to the more factual basis of science and technology.
The project proposes the harnessing of our chemical potential after biological death through the application of a microbial fuel cell, harvesting its electrical potential in a dry cell battery. Here, technology acts to provide conclusive proof of life after death, life being contained in the battery.
“We have speculated on how we might use this battery ourselves, and asked people to give us their proposals for Afterlife objects.”
Biography
James Auger (b. 1970, Derby, England) and Jimmy Loizeau (b. 1968, St. Asaph, Wales) have been collaborating on projects since the Audio Tooth Implant concept was conceived whilst at the Royal College of Art in 2001. Post R.C.A. they worked at Media Lab Europe in Dublin as research associates. Auger and Loizeau have taken part in group exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including Don’t tempt me (ICA, London; MoMA, New York, 2001), Future products (London, 2002), Mobilise (Dublin, 2003), Open Borders (Lille, 2004), Betes de style (MUDAC, Lausanne, 2006), Philips Design exhibition (Eindhoven, 2007), Design and the Elastic Mind (MoMA, New York, 2008), What If (Dublin, 2009), Action! Design over Time (MoMA, New York, 2010–2012), New Energy in Art and Design (Rotterdam, 2012). They have participated in festivals such as Experimenta (Lisbon, 2003), ISEA (San Jose, 2006), Transmediale (Berlin, 2010) and Tech Fest (Mumbai, 2011) as well as art and design conferences in Basel, Seoul, Berlin and New York. They were awarded Designer of the Year from the Köln School of Design and Top 100 designs of 2002 from Time magazine, and received honorary mention at Ars Electronica (Linz, 2004). Auger and Loizeau are currently based in London and lecture at the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths University.
