Al Jazeera has a piece up right now that begins: "Gas produced by decaying human waste is a potentially major source of energy that could provide electricity for millions of homes while improving sanitary conditions in developing countries..."

It's treated as news, and it is news, but it's not a new idea, or at the very least, it's an idea that the artist Susan Robb had ten years ago in a show at Lawrimore Project. As Jen explained at the time, the piece was called Digester and Robb's art dealer at the time, Scott Lawrimore, was involved in producing the, uh, power. Digester was

a row of crude biodigesters said to contain the shit of dealer Scott Lawrimore. Through a system of 55-gallon drums and tubes, the shit is broken down into methane gas, which powers a campfire on the floor of the gallery. (Marshmallows are available for roasting.) The early buzz on this work saw it as an institutional critique, a punishment and test of the art dealer: make him walk to work for months carrying a wide-necked mason jar full of his own crap, which Lawrimore is doing. But Digester isn't really that feisty. The sadism is processed as clean as the shit, which goes unseen and unsmelled. And despite what the label says, the artist contributed her own shit along with Lawrimore's, as well as manure provided by local zookeepers, to keep the fire burning.

I forgot how good that show was until rereading this.

By the way, Susan Robb is presenting new sound work called In the Form of a Hummingbird at the Frye on November 19.