Performance, 9-16-1995, 17 min.
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague NL
From the notes accompanying the VHS tape:
In 1880, Alessandro Volta tried, for the first time in history, to construct an electric battery, later to be called the 'voltaic pile'. Raaijmakers's performance 'Volta' aims to repeat this invention on a gigantic scale. In the presence of an audience, Raaijmakers will, with the help of four assistents, construct a giant pile of zinc and copper plates, alternated with clothes drenched in acid. After placing the last plate, this colossal battery will produce the energy for one light bulb, suspended from the ceiling. Thus, the audience can experience the relation between the invested labor and the resulting electric energy. And also, how and why the original visual quality of this 'proto-element' has been lost in favor of the efficiency of the modern battery. 'Volta' intends to recreate this lost plasticity, if only for a single moment.
Performers: Dick Raaijmakers, Martin Burr, Daniël Graber, Ludger Hurts, Jillis Molenaar, Alex Schaub, Bart Visser.
Directed by Kasper van der Horst (Interfaculty ArtScience, The Hague NL)
Produced by Haags Gemeentemuseum & Stroom hcbk, The Hague NL
Ripped from a DVD copy of a VHS tape