Superflex

SUPERFLEX

ART, BUSINESS AND CHARITY

Superflex work on the boundaries of traditional art. Rather than art they devise 'tools' that create new types of encounters between people and spark alternative projects.

Superflex Biogas in Africa, 1997

Description
Superflex Biogas in Africa is an extensive installation, comprising a number of elements: a balloon, three videos, three serigraphic prints, a diagram, photographs, a table, an aquarium, goldfish and chairs. Together these elements inform of the artist collective’s biogas plant in Africa.

About the work
Superflex Biogas in Africa is both artwork and documentation. The installation illustrates Superflex's efforts to develop an ecologically sustainable energy source for poor, isolated farming families in Third World countries. In 1997 Superflex introduced a biogas plant which was installed in a village in Tanzania. Since then, two orange balloons in the village have converted biological waste into gas, thus making an African household self-sufficient in terms of heating and lighting.

The project spawned the company Supergas Ltd in which engineers, Superflex and various investors expand the project for commercial use in different parts of the world.
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Superflex's art in general
Superflex describe their artistic projects as tools. Superflex Biogas in Africa is both a serious suggestion for a substantial improvement of day-to-day life in a Third World country and a work of art that invites reflection on the relationship between rich and poor countries.
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Literature
"Superflex Tools”. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König, 2003
"Supercopy – Guarana Power”, Herning Kunstmuseum, 2004
"Self-organisation/ Counter Economic Strategies", Sternberg Press, 2006