Interactive outdoor art installations are some of our favorites! Now, Melbourne-based art and technology studio ENESS has launched A Solar-Powered Bench That Spins Ever So Slowly. The name of the permanent installation is exactly as it says – the whimsical benches store sunlight from custom solar panels and rotate, giving users a slow paced perspective of their surroundings. There’s absolutely zero age limit to enjoying this bench.
The artwork also interacts with the sun itself, spinning faster on bright days and slower when there are clouds. Shorter people will enjoy their feet hanging off the edge in a childlike way, while taller users will have to re-plant their feet every few meters as the bench continues spinning.
Artist and founder of ENESS, Nimrod Weis, shares that “The intention was to create a work that innovates within the area of [the] public realm by being functional, sustainable, and one that inspires a different way of interacting. By harvesting sunlight, the benches move under their own steam – without intervention. This intention makes a statement about the future of public infrastructure and what energy sources are being used for light, movement, and animation.”
The Solar-Powered Bench That Spins Ever So Slowly is sustainably created, rotomolded using low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The design also references mid-century modern furniture details, an era when new synthetics were revolutionizing manufacturing techniques. The retro look, brought to life with today’s sustainability values and solar harvesting, gives the illusion of a garden of flowers when viewed from above.
To learn more about ENESS’s Solar-Powered Bench That Spins Ever So Slowly, visit eness.com.
Photography by Ben Wiseman.