Artist Adam Frank has created a living map of Seattle's electrial distribution and energy use called CURRENT, which will be unveiled during the opening weekend celebration of The Next Fifty at the Seattle Center. 
Adam Frank
CURRENT is the title of artist Adam Frank’s work that will be unveiled during the opening weekend celebration of The Next Fifty at the Seattle Center. Frank has created a living map of Seattle’s electrical distribution and energy use in a real-time depiction using light to create the image of water cascading through Seattle as electric energy.
“CURRENT has many functions to show the connection between water, hydroelectricity, and power generation, transmission, distribution and use by Seattle,” states Frank. “It approximates the amount of water needed to power Seattle and makes visual the fundamental relationship between water and electricity.”
As part of the Sustainable Futures month and The Next Fifty celebration, CURRENT explores the critical issues affecting the Pacific Northwest, creating synergies that inspire a share future vision. The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, in partnership with Seattle City Light through the 1% For The Arts program, commissioned Frank as an artist-in-residence in November of 2011. Frank will continue working with the utility throughout the year in efforts to bring awareness and a new way of thinking about conservation and sustainability through the use of art.
On Sunday, April 22 – Earth Day, Frank joins a panel of artists at 2 p.m. in the Center House for a discussion of Art & Sustainability. Visitors can view CURRENT before or after the panel discussion.
Adam Frank is an accomplished artist who uses light as his medium. He designs and produces artwork, products and toys using his unique expertise in projected environments and virtual interactive characters. He recently completed a large commission for the City of Denver as a permanent installation depicting the rising sun projected onto a downtown Denver building. His work also includes an outdoor installation that is projected onto the façade of the New York Stock Exchange. For more information about the work of Adam Frank, visit www.adamfrank.com.
“We turned to Adam to help us communicate with City Light customers the unique clean, renewable resource they own that powers their homes, businesses and industry,” added Suzanne Hartman, director of Communications & Public Affairs for Seattle City Light. “We are very fortunate, indeed, to have this amazing hydroelectric resource that was built more than 100 years ago. CURRENT so visually shows the “living system” of our fabulous electric network.”
Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States. It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents. City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.