British artist Mike Thompson has designed one of the most unusual art pieces I’ve ever seen. Well, it’s kind of an art piece, but it’s also a functioning lamp powered by human blood. There’s even a video of the project in action, so you can see just how the blood-powered lamp is supposed to work.
Blood Lamp from miket on Vimeo.
It’s a fascinating idea, and a great use of biochemistry in action. The lamp straddles both performance art piece and home chemistry experiment. If it didn’t involve human blood and smashing glass, it’d be a great high school science experiment. Here’s what Mike says about the project:
What if power came at a cost to the individual?
The average American consumes 3383kwh of energy per year. That’s equivalent to leaving the light on in 4 rooms for a whole year. The simple flick of a switch allows us to power appliances and gadgets 24/7 without a thought to where it comes from and the cost to the environment.
For the lamp to work one breaks the top off, dissolves the tablet, and uses their own blood to power a simple light. By creating a lamp that can only be used once, the user must consider when light is needed the most, forcing them to rethink how wasteful they are with energy, and how precious it is.
Image: Coolbuzz
Tags: blood-powered lamp, art projects, chemistry, Mike Thompson, environmentalism