IFD → Professor
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Battery status
60%
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The Interface Design chair at Bauhaus University Weimar is taking an innovative step toward sustainable digital practices by launching a solar-powered website. This new initiative draws its energy from a small balcony solar power system—known in Germany as a Balkonkraftwerk—installed on the university campus. The setup provides a limited but sufficient amount of energy to run the website during daylight hours, depending on weather conditions.

The project is not just about technology; it’s a statement. By powering the site with renewable energy, the institute aims to raise awareness about the often-overlooked environmental impact of digital infrastructure. Websites, apps, and online services consume significant amounts of electricity, much of which is still generated by fossil fuels. Through this experiment, the Interface Design Institute wants to highlight the growing energy footprint of the internet and encourage more sustainable thinking in web design.

Visitors to the site can view real-time information about its energy status—whether it is online thanks to solar power or temporarily offline due to lack of sun. This dynamic experience helps users reflect on their own digital habits and the invisible resources behind every click.

2.76W 60% 30.15W

Prof. Martin Hesselmeier

Marienstraße 5, Room 105
99423 Weimar
+49 (0) 3643 58 37 63
martin.hesselmeier[at]uni-weimar.de
https://www.martinhesselmeier.com

Foto: Sebastian H. Schroeder


Professor Martin Hesselmeier has held the Chair of Interface Design at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar since 2023. After studying visual communication at the University of Applied Sciences for Technology and Design in Mannheim, he graduated in 2002 with a diploma in design and completed his postgraduate studies in media arts in audiovisual media at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (with distinction) in 2008. From 2009-2010 he worked as an artistic-scientific assistant at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne on the EU research project Citizen Media. He then worked as Creative Director Digital at Meiré und Meiré Cologne from 2010-2015. In 2015, he founded the Atelier Martin Hesselmeier, specialising in the conception, design and development of digital applications. From 2020-2022 he was Professor of User Interface and User Experience Design at the University of Fine Arts Essen.

In his experimental works, he favours reactive installations within the limits of human perception. His works at the intersection of design, art and technology have been exhibited and honoured internationally on numerous occasions. (Ars Electronica, Transmediale Berlin, RIXC Art Science Festival Riga, ArtCologne, Dislocate Tokyo, FILE Festival São Paulo, TodaysArt Brussels). In his research and teaching, he focuses on photonics and its translation into artistic and design positions, in which the topic of light/sound and their interaction exerts a major influence. A further focus is on the subject of energy harvesting, where he is primarily concerned with strategies of extraction, storage and experimental creative and artistic handling.

Exhibitions

2023
LICHTFEST Krems

2022
ART Gräfelfing
Q18, Quartier am Hafen / Cologne

2020
STEREOLUX / Nantes
LUMINALE / Frankfurt am Main

2019
Solo Exhibition Poetry of Matter at Gesellschaft für zeitgenössische Kunst Osnabrück
Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen
Humboldt Universität / Berlin

2018
BRUCH & DALLAS / Cologne
Ars Electronica / Linz

2017
Virtualities and Realities, RIXC Art Science Festival / Riga
Lichtkunstnacht / Schöppingen
CityLeaks Urban Art Festival / Cologne

2016
Kunstverein Kölnberg Rundblick Kirschenpflücker / Cologne
light art festival »Aufstiege« / Schwäbisch Hall
Kunsthaus Rhenania / Cologne

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