A presentation for students at the High Voltage Laboratory of the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ).
Marc Renaud
The cooling tower of the Gösgen nuclear plant in Däniken.
Marc Renaud
A transformer in Köniz near the Swiss capital of Bern.
Marc Renaud
The glacial melt stream Borgne d'Arolla in southwestern Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
An electric pylon in Inden in western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
Turbine casing of the decommissioned Chavalon thermal power station in Vouvry, western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
Cooling tower of the Gösgen nuclear plant in Däniken.
Marc Renaud
The Vieux-Emosson dam wall in Finhaut, western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
The control panel of a simulator of the Beznau nuclear plant.
Marc Renaud
The Fionnay-Péroua inspection tunnel for the Grand-Dixence hydropower station in Nendaz, western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
Cooling tower of the decommissioned Chavalon thermal power station in Vouvry, western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
A parabolic mirror solar collector at the Institute for Solar Technology in Rapperswil-Jona, eastern Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
Electric transformer in Bevaix, western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
The Fieschertal hydroelectric plant in western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
Coal for the Rheinhafen thermal power plant in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Marc Renaud
Fission material containment area at the Gösgen nuclear plant in Däniken.
Marc Renaud
Fionnay-Péroua access tunnel at the Grande-Dixence hydropower plant in Nendaz, western Switzerland.
Marc Renaud
High Voltage Laboratory at the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ).
Marc Renaud
Artist Marc Renaud attempts to capture the indispensable but invisible force that powers civilization.
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Thomas Kern was born in Switzerland in 1965. Trained as a photographer in Zürich, he started working as a photojournalist in 1989. He was a founder of the Swiss photographers agency Lookat Photos in 1990. Thomas Kern has won twice a World Press Award and has been awarded several Swiss national scholarships. His work has been widely exhibited and it is represented in various collections.
Show the invisible. This is the challenge that Renaud has set himself in his new photographic book “No Blackout”External link. The images attempt to showcase a force that is present in almost all our activities today: electricity. It surrounds us all the time and everywhere. Without it the trains come to a halt, supermarket checkouts shut down and the chargers on our smartphones no longer work. A rare blackout gives us a hint of how dependent we are on electricity.
Renaud’s images often capture objects that seem heavy, static and immutable. Yet it is this invisible and elusive current that heats our shower water, cools the beer in the fridge and allows us to read this article. The artist makes the most of this paradox between the bulk of the power installations and the ethereal quality of electricity.
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.