SCENT OF SALT — DANCE PLEASE DANCE!

Hadi Fallahpisheh and John-Elio Reitman

 

John Ali is an inventor. He is politically and ecologically minded. After many scathing and heretical letters to major energy corporations, and public demonstrations, he takes matters into his own hands, and begins developing a pair of winter boots that use the salt from the sidewalks to create electricity. This energy is pure anarchy: unregulated, uncertified, unstable, and is garnering attention (and threat) on his blog. Fearing persecution for his off grid research (perhaps the energy CEOs now have a bounty on his head!), he decides to take himself off the grid as well.

The gritty salt on the street, the sweat from his feet and wet socks become electrolyte, transferring ions between metal electrodes (spare change, scrap metal, rubbish) that take on the form of different shoe components. The soles of his boots glow and vibrate with energy, as he trudges through the snow, carefully weaving his route through preexisting footsteps. He alternates between questioning whether his paranoia has gotten the best of him, and breaking into a breathless jog, certain his pursuers are hot on his trail.  

All the while, his boots absorb free energy, warming his toes and faintly lighting his path, his flight consolidated with his experimental project. Snow falls down from the sky, and John Ali’s doubly reversed footwork joins the slushy steps on the sidewalk, like some drunken ballroom dance step diagram.