Energy House 2.0: Mishka Henner and Emily Speed at Castlefield Gallery

Incredible things can happen when art collides with science – Energy House 2.0: Mishka Henner and Emily Speed at Castlefield Gallery is proof that the two disciplines can only ever benefit from one another.

Energy House Labs are Salford University research facilities advancing the study and understanding of energy efficient homes. Energy House 2.0 is a purpose-built performance test laboratory which can fit two full sized houses and where temperature and humidity can be controlled, and weather conditions simulated. The resulting research encompasses science, architecture and design, and is paving the way for making carbon-neutral buildings a reality.

Artists Mishka Henner and Emily Speed participated in an 18-month long residency at Energy House 2.0, with both artists focusing on different aspects of the project and resulting in an exhibition at Castlefield Gallery this spring and summer.

Henner focused on the use of sensors and the way the climate catastrophe is a constant presence in sustainability ventures such as Energy House 2.0. Inspired by the collection of data from sensors located in and around the houses in the lab, he uses the Blitzortung network of over 10,000 that record lightning strikes across the world. At Castlefield Gallery, the artist presents a sound and video installation that responds to the lightning data in real time, triggering percussion instruments. Henner puts the weather conditions simulated outside the houses indoors too, commenting on the very tangible effects of the changing climate.

Emily Speed’s work explores the relationship between people and architecture. At Castlefield, she hones in on the houses built within Energy House 2.0 as spaces for experimentation and possibility, where traditional gender roles and capitalist aspirations can be put into question. She is particularly interested in kitchens as spaces of everyday rituals, as well as those which are perhaps most gendered in their use. Speed compares how the ‘fairy tale’ kitchens from Pinterest boards and lifestyle magazines actually promote the kind of products and practices that undermine the work done by sustainability initiatives like Energy House 2.0. For the show she has developed fabric floor plan sculptures to hang in the gallery’s double-height space.

The exhibition is a fascinating collaboration between art and science institutions working towards the same goals and, most importantly, a way to interact with two very different artists’ perspectives: a fresh look at very current issues.