10-03-2012 Electroluminescent blue whale - New Order

New Order, organized by Mediamatic, is a series of exhibitions investigating a world where energy has become a fundamental principle of our society. We once had a very direct relationship with our energy consumption, as with most animals today it was directly related to our metabolism. While sleeping we need about 90 watts of energy to 'run', to survive in the Amazon, because a hunter-gatherer needs about 250 watts. With the rise of civilization and technology, the modern middle-class man in the developed world needs about 11,000 watts to live, which, as physicist Geoffrey West calculates, "is more watts than a blue whale ... the largest animal that ever existed." But if we participate in the global network of energy, don't we all end up like blue whales? By answering a few questions at the exhibition, you can discover which animal best suits your personal lifestyle. Is it an elephant, dolphin, cow, maybe even a cat?