Results of Copenhagen's Land Art Generator Initiative

The Land Art Generator Initiative held its 2014 ideas competition in Copenhagen -- a timely choice as the Danish city works toward carbon neutrality by 2025. The LAGI competition invited interdisciplinary teams worldwide to share their ideas on how to incorporate sustainable infrastructure art to Copenhagen.

Two prize winners from Argentina and Poland were announced, while a third team in Italy received a third place honorable mention.

Scroll down to see their submissions.

1st Place Winner for LAGI 2014: The Solar Hourglass
Prize: $15,000
Artist Team: Santiago Muros Cortés
Artist Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Energy Technologies: concentrated solar power (thermal beam-down tower with heliostats)
Annual Capacity: 7,500 MWh

Project description: "Rather than using sand to measure time, The Solar Hourglass uses the power of the sun to electrify hundreds of homes while providing a breathtaking setting for inspiration and relaxation. The installation consists of an upper and a lower bulb. Dozens of people can gather on the bottom bulb during the day, sheltered by the shade of the top bulb. The project works as a solar central receiver, consisting of an arrangement of small flat mirrors that concentrate their reflection of solar energy on a tank holding a heating medium. Sun-tracking mirrors (heliostats) on top of the upper bulb reflect solar heat onto a cone-shaped set of smaller mirrors that concentrate these reflections and direct them down the neck of the installation."

2nd Place Winner for LAGI 2014: Quiver
Prize: $5,000
Artist Team: Mateusz Góra, Agata Gryszkiewicz
Artist Location: Warsaw, Poland
Energy Technologies: biofuel, aeroelastic flutter (WindbeltTM)
Annual Capacity: 550 MWh (223 MWh bio, 327 MWh WindbeltTM)

Project description: "A wall of greenery with a gap in the middle suggests a way “into the wild.” We are entering a garden without knowing what we will experience. The one sure destination is a monolithic, ephemeral tower, shining on the horizon. Along the way through a field, we discover that the greenery offers multiple spatial experiences with a variety of niches, corridors, and chambers. Closer to the tower, we notice that it quivers in the wind, as does the surface of the land. Leaving the garden, we enter the tower’s forest-like structure. In front of us, a framed panoramic view of Copenhagen, and above us the sun and the sky can be viewed through an undulating filter."

3rd Place Mention for LAGI 2014: eMotions: Energy Motions and Art Emotions
Artist Team: Antonio Maccà, Flavio Masi
Artist Location: Padova, Italy
Energy Technologies: photovoltaic panels, micro-scale vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) and horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT), stacked ceramic multilayer actuators, piezoelectric wind energy systems
Annual Capacity: 2,000 MWh

Project description: "eMotions showcases artistic interpretations of disparate Danish ecosystems, each varying in materials, energy technologies, dimensions, and textures. The installation places on display Denmark's biodiversity while engaging different communities within the city. The artwork is also meant to evoke the image of a large generator, its viewing loop representing the generator’s "belt" and the infinite production of clean energy through its micro-scale generators. The generators are listed below, each representing a type of ecosystem."

Related: A peek into “Sight” from the Land Art Generator Initiative 2014 in Copenhagen