‘Electric Feels’ has been commissioned by Dr Ola Michalec from the University of Bristol School of Computer Science, alongside Joe Bourne from the University of Lancaster, on behalf of the PETRAS National Centre of Excellence. PETRAS is a UK research consortium focused on the future implementation of the Internet of Things.
Four talented illustrators were chosen to create pieces exploring the intersection of energy, digital technology, and emotions.
The thought-provoking pieces include Liz Ormian’s Smart Living, which uses a single page comic book format to look at how small changes to domestic energy use could be felt by human users, while Control Rooms by Bristol-based Mary Flora Hart shows a shared flat in the not so distant future which shows how data screens, dials, and interfaces have crept into living spaces so much that they start to look like power station control rooms.
The ‘Electric Feels’ commission also includes Powerful Emotions by Aude Nasr, which features a series of tarot cards based on the ways smart appliances cause a wide range of emotions, meanwhile Bristol-based artist Jordan Collver’s comic illustration Gone With The Wind tells the story of a manager decommissioning wind turbines in the Scottish Highlands in 2047 using AI from a control room.
