We use electricity all the time, but it\’s a hidden process contained in plugs and kept behind walls. The Garden Electric visualizes our consumption of electricity through the growth and death of each of the garden\’s plants.

The Garden Electric consists of an array of plants that are constructed by sculpting and inflating recycled plastic bags, creating a synthetic garden. Each plant is daisy chained to an appliance through an ammeter, which reads the amount of current said appliance uses. The values generated by the ammeter trigger a motor that displaces air from a bellow to and from the plant. When the appliance is off, the ammeter reads no current and the plant thrives and stays inflated. When the appliance is turned on, the amount of air relational to the amount of current being used is deprived from the plant and it is placed in a dying state.

Meant to be an approachable, hands-on environment the Garden Electric invites the user to walk through and affect the garden, allowing electricity to take on a tactile form.

In addition, all values obtained by the ammeter will be logged in a database through Arduino and PHP. This is intended to track the daily energy consumption at ITP.