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Electricity theft underground, 2001

Light installation: electroluminescent screen prints laminated into transparent protective foil, electric cable, intermediate power meter, 230 volt connection, printed court judgement from 1896 regarding “power theft”, Kiel Regional Court

Installation view: Former adit of the Pliesberg coal mine; accessible for visitors via the Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück

live red cables (230 V AC) lead into the shaft pit via intermediate electricity meters, which are visibly presented on the ground floor of the museum, and further into the former production gallery of the Pliesberg coal mine. In the present gallery, which is accessible to visitors, the cables are connected with flexible, self-made EL light strips. The electrical current required to illuminate these strips is so low that the connected electricity meters (on the ground floor) cannot measure consumption. The term used to describe a court ruling on “electricity theft” was: “Can electricity or electrical current be the subject of theft or misappropriation?” St. G.B. §§ 242, 246, IV Criminal Senate. Judgement of 20 October 1896 g. W. Rep. 2609/96, Kiel Regional Court.