The Backyard Windturbine

Growing up, Rosa would regularly visit the windmill in the street next to hers. Every Sunday it was open for visitors, who would get dough for pancakes and a tour around the inside of the windmill. We like windmills: our country is known for them and many are considered national or world heritage. That doesn’t apply to the massive wind turbines we are building nowadays. Where locals normally talk about their windmills with pride, the placing of modern wind turbines often comes with resistance from residents in the area. They cause noise and disturbing shadows and they pollute the landscape. However, wind turbines are an important source for green energy. We seem to want wind turbines, but, as often heard: “Not in my backyard”. Rosa wanted to respond to this issue by building her own wind turbine, designed especially for the backyard. 

Rosa Maas likes to look at the media. Images, news items, opinions and beliefs that keep circling around, get intensified and could just as well be fake. Her projects often start from something that she saw on the internet. A phrase or belief that has a strong importance for people. For example her work ‘The Backyard Wind turbine’, started from the often heard phrase ‘Not in my backyard’. Rosa likes responding to these phrases or beliefs in an almost ironic way. Sometimes using a camera, sometimes with modern editing software or Google Earth, and often using her two left hands and the help of YouTube, she tries to create something that makes people think about current issues in our society.