Post 1 – 2024 Aesthetics Explorations: Solarpunk

Solarpunk is a speculative genre and artistic movement that focuses on renewable energy, integration with nature, and working towards a sustainable future. The “solar” part of the term refers to renewable and sustainable energy and the “punk” in the term refers to the genre’s anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist ideals. 

A large part of the sub genre is the reducing personal ownership. Currently, we all have what we need when we need it. There are multiple cars for each household contributing to pollution. Consumerism has caused society to have an abundance of “junk” that we can purchase whenever we want. A large part of Solarpunk aims to have a solid community that are willing to share things in hopes of reducing waste. This can be seen in the art with this aesthetic. There is always a great sense of community and closeness.

Into the Depth of the Sacred Forest – Hiroo Isono

The term Solarpunk was first conceived in a blog post in 2008 titled, “From Steampunk to Solarpunk”. The post referenced cargo ships using new sails as a means of power. This influenced the author whose username is “john-robert”, to conceptualize the Solarpunk genre. Following its conception, many other artists and literary publicists contributed to the genre, such as Matt Staggs, Olivia Louise, and Adam Flynn. Their work was a large part of the development of “The Solarpunk Manifesto”, which is a guide for all think Solarpunk. 

A digital collage – Olalekan Jeyifous

Solarpunk futurism differs from other futurism sub-genres such as cyberpunk and steampunk by avoiding pessimism and instead focusing on do it yourself themes and social inclusivity. The general Solarpunk aesthetic was influenced by the prevalence of dystopian media in the 2010s. Solarpunk was an alternative to what we usually saw in the media. Some literature in this genre include Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastic Stories in a Sustainable World (2012), by Elisa Cogbill-Seiders, A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021), and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (2022), by Becky Chambers.

 Cover art – Feifei Ruan; Cover design – Christine Foltzer

A big theme in Solarpunk is the integration of nature with architecture. Art depicting Solarpunk is community based with vegetation and architecture working together to provide and sustain society. The art has a lot of green color, but also has advanced technology. The technology is usually self made by the characters and is mainly there to make things easier. 

Into the Depth of the Sacred Forest – Hiroo Isono

A great architectural example of the Solarpunk aesthetic is Italy’s Bosco Verticale or “Vertical Forest”. Bosco Verticale is a residential complex that features two residential buildings designed by Boeri Studio. The complex is located in Milan, Italy and has the very distinctive feature of over two thousand species of trees distributed on the facades. 

Bosco Verticale, Alamy Stock Photo – Riccardo Sala

Another influence Solarpunk has had has been in video games. Although there aren’t too many popular games out there that are based on Solarpunk, there has definitely been an increase. Overwatch has multiple maps where you can identify many Solarpunk influences. Two maps that have heavy Solarpunk influences are Oasis and Numbani. You can see futuristic designs and architecture as well as the incorporation of nature in the maps. These “Solarpunk” maps fit in with the storyline that the game follows which is set in a dystopian future where society is trying to rework itself and advance.

Oasis – Overwatch

Overall the Solarpunk aesthetic is relatively new. The positive futuristic ideals are a fresh view of what the future holds. Many of its counterparts like Cyberpunk focus on the demise of society. Solarpunk gives hope of a utopian future where society can coexist with both nature and technology. This aesthetic can be a light at the end of a dark tunnel and push us to work towards a better future. 

Refrences

1.) Solarpunk subreddit

2.) Solarpunk Wiki 

3.) “From Steampunk to Solarpunk”. Republic of the Bees. April 30, 2008.