Terrible beauty — installation powered by EMFs from high-voltage lines

Well, this is the kind of thing that I would love to post as an innovative, aesthetic exploration — and it is that — but it's also very disturbing. I have long felt that even if there weren't statistics that clearly show that people living near high-voltage power lines have a higher incidence of cancer than the norm (almost verbatim the kind of denial the tobacco industry was making for years about cigarettes), it's just intuitive. Power lines are not things you want to live next to. 

And then you see a piece like this. A whole field of fluorescent tubes glowing brightly — with no power source other than the power lines hanging above them. If you're not putting two and two together, you're either (A) stubbornly wedded to the strictest standards of scientific procedure or (b) dependent on power-industry lobbyists for your campaign contributions.

Props to Denis Henshaw and his team at the University of Bristol (UK) for this installation. It's the rare work whose beauty really can change your mind and compel you to take action.