A Survey of the Heliotechnics/Heliotechniques Institute for the Study of Solar Practices

This paper is a survey of the Heliotechnics/Heliotechniques Institute for the Study of Solar Practices, an artistic project and a speculative method to reimagine extractive energy relations. The survey is divided into several sections that provide an overview of what the Institute is, what it does, its conceptual framework, and its future activities. The central hub of The Institute is its solar powered website. This paper examines the construction and role of the solar powered server to expand on the practical and theoretical functions of the Institute, along with its publication series, fieldwork, and methodology. The survey situates The Institute in relation to futures thinking and environmental futures. Through its creative and critical interventions, The Institute aims to radically refigure energetic entities as something more than natural/cultural/technological—as solar practices. Heliotechnics/Heliotechniques is a fictional science that explores solar practices—the practices, techniques, and technologies of living with the Sun, that humans and other Earthly beings do. It is grounded in a method of rigorous curiosity that informs The Institute’s activities across theory, artistic practice, education, and community work.