Solar4Rain

Solar4Rain

Solar4Rain Logo Permaculture SolarPunk

Introduction

Solar4Rain, an atmospheric PUNK symbiosys Solar4Rain is an interdisciplinary art project that employs the metaphor of the life cycle—sun and rain—as a lens to explore macroeconomic and geo-global dynamics. By examining the interplay of resources such as water and solar energy, the project critically addresses the growing tensions between resource-rich regions and the inequities perpetuated by climate change and exploitative practices. It highlights pressing issues such as neo-colonialism in renewable energy, the geopolitics of water, and the ethical challenges of global resource management. Through an engaging sci-fi narrative, the project envisions a speculative future where humanity adopts equitable, sustainable, and symbiotic relationships with nature and technology.

At its core, Solar4Rain aims to expose the paradoxes inherent in renewable energy exploitation. For example, Norwegian investments in Spanish photovoltaic farms generate significant profits but fail to contribute to local economies through taxation, while land acquisitions in Africa, Spain and Norway by external/international investors are driven by the pursuit of water resources, exacerbating existing inequalities. The project seeks to provoke reflection on these systemic imbalances and inspire audiences to question the structures that underpin global resource extraction and exchange. By presenting an alternative vision, it fosters dialogue on how these systems can be reimagined for a more equitable and sustainable future.

To achieve this, the project integrates multiple artistic strategies, including data visualization, speculative storytelling, and audience participation. Through immersive installations, visitors will encounter interactive displays that use light, sound, maps, and simulated contracts to illustrate the interconnectedness of global resource systems and their inequities. A central sci-fi narrative imagines a world where balanced resource distribution and ethical cooperation prevail, blending the principles of Solar Punk and permacomputing. The public is also invited to participate in experimental labs, where they can co-create and propose new systems of exchange, actively contributing to a shared vision of resilience and collaboration.

Daily blog

April 15

Solarpunk rules to follow

- We decided to do everything something that can be visible

- To start this daily blog

- We went through the principles of Permacomputing and Solarpunk

- We revise all our notes

- Maite installed the microscope and software - to see how is the water here...

- Gisle started with the 3d printing

April 16

-Gisle doing some test 3D prints

-Maite made some microscope videos of Bergen water

April 17

- Rearranging the room

- Gisle started doing some pipeline research

April 20. At the cabin

We started to prompt ChatGPT to expand Solar4Rain into a tale based on Ursula K. Le Guin style. This is what we got. It really impressed us.

A short solarpunk novel in the spirit of Ursula K. Le Guin 🌍 MAPA CONCEPTUAL DEL MUNDO DE AZURA - SPANISH 🌍 CONCEPTUAL MAP OF AZURA - ENGLISH

Solar4Rain-map, and IA generated image based on the project prompt and in the style of Ursula Le Guin maps

A short solarpunk novel in the spirit of Ursula K. Le Guin

In Azura, sky and soil are not opposed. They lean toward each other, like old lovers who once hurt each other.

I. The Seasons of the Network

There were no seasons in Azura, not in the way the old world had them. No winters or autumns, not even summers: only light and its absence; moisture and its absence; heat, and the memory of its passing.

In the North, it now rained. Real rain, not the recycled dew of the condensers, but water from the sky. No one quite knew why—perhaps the atmosphere, humiliated for centuries, was beginning to forgive them—but the clouds had returned. And with them, shadow.

The South, still dry, still radiant, looked on with a mixture of pride and fear. For generations, they had been the solar heart of the Solar4Rain Network: harvesters of energy, vapor condensers, weavers of water from nothing. Now, with the North overflowing, the flow reversed: water descended, light ascended.

The ancients would have called it a miracle. The engineers called it a system adjustment. The elders of the South called it exchange. But some whispered a forgotten word: Dependence.

II. The Agreement

Amiya was no longer a child. She had completed twenty-six solar cycles, though not all were measured the same between regions. The North still considered her young. The South, which grew hard and early, called her an old woman.

She had been given a task that seemed simple: to supervise the redistribution of flows between Primary Trees of the South and Hydraulic Towers of the North. But the mission carried a deeper weight: to ensure that exchange did not become dominion.

There were those who said the North had begun to demand light too regularly. That their rain-fed crops expanded beyond what was necessary. That, instead of being grateful for the South's solar energy, they accounted for it.

The language had changed. They used to speak of "sharing." Now they spoke of "flow balance."

A technologist from the North, a wiry man named Keiran, said it plainly while they examined the optical root of a transmission tower:

"This cannot go on indefinitely. The Network needs structure. Hierarchy. It cannot be sustained on solar idealism."

Amiya looked at him with a mix of pity and recognition.

"The water you drink does not fall in columns. Yet it flows."

Keiran said nothing.

III. The Fallen Tree

A Crystal Tree fell in the South. Not from technical failure, but from sabotage. No one said it aloud, but the sensors were clear: intentional filament cuts and disrupted flow. The roots showed no mechanical stress, only human interference.

There was no trial. Only a meeting.

The Solar Council, from both North and South, sat in a circle. There were no cameras or minutes. Only words.

"What do we do when the network becomes a trap?" asked an old woman from the South.

"Or when exchange becomes an imposition?" added a young man from the North, his voice trembling.

Amiya didn’t speak until the end. When she did, she spoke slowly, like one carving a seed into stone:

"A fallen Tree is more than a loss. It is a warning. We were not wrong to connect roots. But we erred in forgetting that every root, when it cannot breathe, rots."

IV. Epilogue: The Deep Light

No one ever knew who sabotaged the Tree. Perhaps it was many. Perhaps no one. Perhaps it was the system itself, a natural self-regulator responding to accumulated tension.

What followed was not rupture, but realignment. The flows were adjusted. Usage was reduced. Slowness was cultivated. The Network grew no more. It folded inward, like a flower that learns to close at night, not out of fear, but out of wisdom.

Amiya returned to the South, not as a technician, but as a caretaker. She planted a new Tree where the fallen one had stood, without a name, without a number. Just a Tree. A root of light that expected no gratitude, no calculation, no destiny.

Only exchange.

🌍 MAPA CONCEPTUAL DEL MUNDO DE AZURA - SPANISH

Draft-GlassTrees-Mirror-Roots

🌧️ BERGEN (Región Norte)

“Donde la lluvia vuelve a caer”

Inspiración real: Bergen, Noruega Clima: Húmedo, lluvioso, templado Función en Azura: Ciudad hídrica, fuente de agua regenerada, conservación de nieblas y lluvias naturales.

Elementos clave:

   Torres Hidromagnéticas: estructuras que capturan, filtran y distribuyen agua de lluvia.

   Bosques Suspendidos: vegetación adaptada a la humedad continua, cultivos verticales en plataformas flotantes.

   Las Grutas del Eco: cuevas que almacenan humedad en forma de vapor acústico (agua que se libera con sonido).

   Universidad del Rocío: centro de investigación sobre patrones climáticos y arquitectura regenerativa.

Tensión narrativa: Aunque han recuperado la lluvia, enfrentan escasez de energía solar, y comienzan a depender del Sur para sostener su infraestructura energética. ☀️ LLERENA (Región Sur)

“Donde el sol no se esconde”

Inspiración real: Llerena, Badajoz, España Clima: Árido, solar, extremos térmicos Función en Azura: Ciudad solar, fuente de luz, energía térmica y almacenamiento fotónico.

Elementos clave:

   Árboles de Cristal: torres solares con raíces ópticas que almacenan y transmiten luz.

   Espejos Raíz: antiguos dispositivos para canalizar energía solar a través del subsuelo.

   La Biblioteca del Silicio: archivo de tecnologías ancestrales solares, donde se preservan los conocimientos previos al gran colapso.

   Campos de Sal Fotosintética: planicies blancas que reflejan y condensan luz para cultivos nocturnos.

Tensión narrativa: Tienen luz, pero poca agua. Empiezan a depender del Norte para sobrevivir, generando tensiones internas sobre independencia y orgullo solar.

🔁 LA RED SOLAR4LLUVIA (Infraestructura Global)

“Entre raíces, todo fluye”

Descripción: Una red subterránea y aérea de intercambio de recursos entre regiones. No es solo tecnología: es cultura, memoria, contrato ético.

Componentes:

   Raíces Ópticas: fibras subterráneas que transportan luz entre regiones.

   Capilares Hidrocerámicos: tubos enterrados que transportan agua encapsulada entre regiones.

   Nódulos de Interfaz: puntos donde se toman decisiones cooperativas, conectan comunidades y permiten ajustes dinámicos en los flujos.

🧭 OTRAS REGIONES POR EXPLORAR (ideas futuras)

   El Bosque de Acero del Este: antiguos restos industriales reforestados con tecnología viva.

   Las Cavernas Solares del Oeste: territorio subterráneo donde se almacena calor para estaciones frías.

   Las Islas Sin Tiempo: comunidades autosuficientes que se niegan a conectarse a la red.

🌱 TEMA CENTRAL

   Simbiosis vs Dominio
   La red que conecta a Bergen y Llerena es viva, como un ecosistema. El conflicto emerge cuando una parte comienza a considerar el flujo como deuda, no como don. El mundo de Azura busca la armonía en la interdependencia, pero esa armonía no es estática. Hay que recrearla, negociarla, cuidarla.

🌍 CONCEPTUAL MAP OF AZURA - ENGLISH

🌧️ BERGEN (Northern Region)

“Where rain falls again”

Real-world inspiration: Bergen, Norway Climate: Humid, rainy, temperate Role in Azura: Hydric city, source of regenerated water, guardian of fog and natural rainfall.

Key elements:

   Hydromagnetic Towers: structures that capture, filter, and distribute rainwater.

   Suspended Forests: vegetation adapted to continuous moisture; vertical farming on floating platforms.

   Echo Grottos: caves that store humidity in the form of acoustic vapor (water released through sound).

   Dew University: research center for climate patterns and regenerative architecture.

Narrative tension: Although they've reclaimed the rains, they face solar scarcity and are becoming dependent on the South’s energy to maintain their infrastructure. ☀️ LLERENA (Southern Region)

“Where the sun never hides”

Real-world inspiration: Llerena, Badajoz, Spain Climate: Arid, solar, extreme thermal variation Role in Azura: Solar city, source of light, thermal energy, and photonic storage.

Key elements:

   Glass Trees: solar towers with optical roots that store and transmit light.

   Root Mirrors: ancient devices that channel solar energy underground.

   The Silicon Library: archive of ancient solar technologies, preserving pre-Collapse knowledge.

   Photosynthetic Salt Fields: white plains that reflect and condense light for nocturnal crops.

Narrative tension: They have light, but lack water. They're growing dependent on the North for survival, sparking internal conflict around autonomy and solar pride. 🔁 THE SOLAR4RAIN NETWORK (Global Infrastructure)

“Among roots, everything flows”

Description: An underground and aerial system of resource exchange between regions. It's not just technology—it’s culture, memory, an ethical contract.

Components:

   Optical Roots: subterranean fibers transporting light across territories.

   Hydroceramic Capillaries: buried tubes carrying encapsulated water between regions.

   Interface Nodes: decision-making hubs, linking communities and regulating resource flows.

🧭 OTHER REGIONS (for future exploration)

   The Steel Forest of the East: reforested industrial ruins filled with living technology.

   Solar Caves of the West: underground territory storing heat for cold seasons.

   The Timeless Islands: self-sufficient communities that refuse to connect to the Network.

🌱 CORE THEME

   Symbiosis vs. Control
   The network connecting Bergen and Llerena is alive, like an ecosystem. Conflict arises when one side starts viewing the flow as debt instead of gift. Azura seeks harmony through interdependence—but that harmony must be reimagined, negotiated, and nurtured.