It might take a moment to put art and technology together but when it happens, as with artist and engineer Leigh Christie's Mondo Spider, results can be stunning.
His creation is the world's first zero emission walking vehicle.
Christie, founder of Vancouver's non-profit organization Energy Alternatives Through Art, will present Art with Energy at the Two Rivers Gallery Thursday at 7:30 p.m. as part of the annual general meeting.
Energy Alternatives Through Art (eatART) fosters new media art research with a focus on large scale, kinetic and robotic sculpture. Projects use art to educate people about the role energy plays in our lives and to raise questions about the social and environmental impact of energy use.
"The topic I want to tackle when I get to Prince George is how combining art and technology can enrich our lives," Christie said. "That's the focus of my art work. What I'm trying to do essentially is to recapture the imagination of people around the world with respect to what our future might look like both aesthetically as well as functionally."
Christie thinks people might be going backwards when delivering the message to the masses.
"If you look all around the world today, there's a lot of negative messages out there that are designed to make us feel guilty and to criticize," he said.
"There's a lot of people talking about the problems but not nearly enough people looking for solutions. I see my life as an ever-changing set of solutions to those problems. Not to be altruistic and not to try to say that I have sacrificed -- I live a good, very comfortable life. And yet at the same time I think that I grew up feeling like having a life full of nice things -- the Western style of life -- was intrinsically bad and if everyone lived like that it was going to destroy the world. It's inherently unsustainable and we should all feel guilty about it. But I have come to the conclusion that's simply false."
The reality is through innovation, environmental conservation and a solutions-oriented attitude, Christie said. We can all live sustainably and we can change the world for the better.
The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
