It is hard to care about what you don't see. With this project we used the shape of a container ship and the fact that power supplies plugged into a powerbar look like containers as a way to pay attention to the pile of plugs under a desk and make it so you could care about this small connection to the bigger system.
Most electronic devices in use everyday are manufactured in one province in China and are delivered to us by containership. What people often do not realize is the extreme scale of the infrastructure needed when a single geographic area becomes a primary manufacturing source; even for things that most people see as insignificant. The largest of these ships hold up to 9,000 40ft containers and are too massive for the Panama Canal. They frequently return to China empty. There is nothing to bring back.
Containership Powersupply measures 20"x3.5"x5"
Exhibition So-Watt! du design dans l’energie, 2007-08, EDF Foundation traveling exhibition: Toulouse, Mulhouse, Paris, Berlin 2007-08
Exhibition Altoids Living Spaces 2006, Brooklyn, New York