The art of the everyday object brought to the vital importance it deserves.
Electricity – a modern age wonder without which I couldn’t make my tea. Well I could if I lit a fire under an old fashioned stove. But let’s not go down that road.
Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket Let’s take a look at it.
We’ve all got them. We use them all the time, every day. We take them for granted.
It’s there, silently doing its job. Our humble servant.
We know that it links to the power grid. The electricity is delivered over or underground by cables stretching from sub-stations and from there to the national grid where power is generated by power stations, nuclear, coal, oil and increasingly solar, wind and waves.
I warm my home with electricity. I cook with it. I can see at night with it. I charge my phone, laptop and tablet with it. I play games with it, watch TV. Hospitals take care of us with it. Traffic lights, air terminals. And on and on and on. The story is endless. We couldn’t live our modern daily lives without it.
Yet we take it for granted, the essential aesthetic of the simple power socket.
Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket
It’s a work of art.
Everyday aesthetics. An art form that creates an aesthetic appreciation of the experiences of daily life.
Everyday aesthetic experiences are beyond traditional art forms like painting, drawing or sculpture and are found in the ordinary and routine activities of everyday life such as cooking, cleaning, talking a walk or gardening.
Furthermore, home furnishings, fashion and clothing, the visual appeal of food and drink and the sensory experience of fragrances and bouquets. All being everyday aesthetics.
Aesthetics to highlight those essential, maybe hidden and taken for granted but vital objects that we cannot live without in our modern day to day living.
The power socket was invented by Harvey Hubbell (1859 – 1927), an American inventor and businessman.
He revolutionised the way electrical devices were used and helped usher in the modern era of electricity.
He invented the first practical plug socket and the pull chain light socket.
Prior to his invention, exposed wires from the electricity mains had to be made into direct contact with the device’s own wires. Very unsafe.
One of the greatest contributors to the art of everyday aesthetics.
Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket
Energy and environmental problems are closely related, since it is nearly impossible to produce, transport, or consume energy without significant environmental impact. The environmental problems directly related to energy production and consumption include air pollution, climate change, water pollution, thermal pollution, and solid waste disposal.
The emission of air pollutants from fossil fuel combustion is the major cause of urban air pollution. Burning fossil fuels is also the main contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases. Diverse water pollution problems are associated with energy usage.
One problem is oil spills. In all petroleum-handling operations, there is a finite probability of spilling oil either on the earth or in a body of water. Coal mining can also pollute water. Changes in groundwater flow produced by mining operations often bring otherwise unpolluted waters into contact with certain mineral materials which are leached from the soil and produce an acid mine drainage. Solid waste is also a by-product of some forms of energy usage. Coal mining requires the removal of large quantities of earth as well as coal. Source: European Environment Agency.
Everyday Aesthetics – The Power Socket