art projects
Digital Warfare Network I
Categories: Art

dwn1This was installed in a large 3-storey building. On each floor were computers, networked together so that information could be passed locally between them. Each computer / network node was attached to various devices — sensors, cameras, micro-controllers, LEDs, counters, and X10 powerline controllers. The X10 technology allowed the nodes to communicate with each other by sending pulse signals through the building’s electric power lines. Through a combination of autonomous self-organizing software processes and the X10 technology, the installation took full control of the building’s electricity system.

As people moved around the building, the network would passively detect their movement and send electric pulse signals around the building accordingly. The state of devices within the building could thus be altered according to the flow of viewers through it. The project was an exploration of a system aesthetic, exploring the relationship between the building / artwork as a whole and the viewer / node as a related part of it. Visitors could appreciate that their actions were affecting the system, but they could not get close enough to the system’s interior logic to successfully manipulate it.

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Categories: Art -