How To Build A Battery | Workshop by Azahara Cerezo

The purpose of this practical session is not to build the fastest or most efficient battery, but to enable a closer and more open relationships with a fundamental element of the devices and electric vehicles we use.

Azahara Cerezo is one of the three artists of the Object-in-Residence trajectory, part of the Materiality of Technology strand of our 2024 Technologies Otherwise program. Starting from a specific technological “object” (in the broader sense of the term), we invited artists/designers to take it apart, materialise/ visualise how it works, analyse how it is produced and assembled, what materials are chosen and where they come from. In this way, we can situate our approach and make it specific, and from that specificity, we can tackle the more general questions we address with the whole Technologies Otherwise program.

Content of the Workshop

In this workshop we will make our own small low-voltage batteries using materials such as plants or cement. To do so, we will review various tutorials that show different approaches to energy generation and storage. Based on this information, each participant will make their own energy artifact. In this way, we will obtain multiple battery cells that will provide very small voltages, which we will join together as if it were a car battery in order to try to finally feed an electronic circuit.

The workshop is thus conceived as a learning by doing, where error and attempts play an essential role, both to question our links with digital technologies and to reflect on broader issues, such as the contradictions of the future scenario of energy self-sufficiency proposed by the EU.

NB. As this is a hands-on session, we may get a bit dirty during the session. Materials will be provided at the workshop and no previous experience is necessary.

About the Artist

Azahara Cerezo is a visual artist. Her art practice emphasises the weight of research as a form of creation and unfolds a constant interest in digitalising processes and their effects on the territory. Her work aims to unveil the apparent magic of the virtual sphere, delving into the intricacies and tentacles that get into the ground we walk on.

Recently, she has been one of the selected fellows of the European project ARTeCHÓ - Art, Economy & Technology. Her works have been selected in the Paradigm Shifts grants by mur.at (Graz, Austria) or the Summer Sessions art and technology residencies (V2, Rotterdam and Hangar, Barcelona). She has exhibited solo work at Bòlit Contemporary Art Centre (Girona) and Centro de Arte La Regenta (Las Palmas) and taken part in group shows at the Instituto Cervantes of New York, National Arts Festival (Makhanda, South Africa), Bienalsur (Cúcuta, Colombia), Santa Mònica (Barcelona), Nieuwe Vide (Haarlem, Netherlands), MUSAC (León) and MACBA (Barcelona), among others.

She graduated in Audiovisual Communication (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and holds a Master in Visual Arts and Multimedia (Polytechnic University of Valencia). Since 2022, she is also a collaborating teacher at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

VVV Eindhoven, 17 Stationsplein, Eindhoven, Netherlands