monday 21. january 2008 10am – saturday 26. january 2008 10pm
okno
 
date:

* open studio : dec 3rd until dec 6th
* workshop: jan 21st until jan 26st 2008, 13:00 > 22:00

participants:

* Pieter Heremans (be)
* Gert Aertsen (be)
* Olivier Meunier/Olm-e (be)
* Maxigas (hu)
* Akosh Maroy (hu)
* Andor Merks (hu)
* Annemie Maes (be)
* Isjtar (be)
* Guy Vanbelle (be/hu)
* Benjamin Benrion (be)
* Tim Vets

…...........................................................

Context : MeshNetwork

A mesh-network is a network wich do not have central hub and in which every node has the same “status” of receiver/transmitter/repeater. This kind of topology exist (or at least is possible) in human relationship as well as with wireless computer links. Actualy, such a computer network exist in the city of Brussels, and the goal of this workshop was to explore the techniques and future artistic possibilities for digital artists.

Okno is a node of this network, and has already used it for activities before, like retransmission toward Noord-Brussels Cultureel Centrum (Laeken Jan. 07) of “Art's Birthday” international audio-visual connected performance, or the collaborative streaming concert “I'm sitting under an antenna” during the Radiophonics festival (Oct. 07). Ono has also explored and discussed the social and philosophical interest in such topologies during the “Public #1” and “Public #3” events. This time, Okno wanted to explore the techniques in a deeper way in order to build artwork adapted specifically to this (new) transmission system.

The goal is to use routers (mainly ASUS brands with the free OpenWRT firmware) and Arduinos (a programmable microcontroller board and programming language which is open hardware / free software) to get sensor information into the mesh network and read the information from another source. Thus, we use the network as a medium. Sensors can be anything from a webcam to a heat sensor. Secondary goal is to create “autonomous nodes” which are self-powered routers which communicate with each other in a horizontal (mesh) way. Tertiary goal is to work on the artistic use of such a technological network setup in order to explore an artistic language which could show the beauty and potential of autonomous networking – as a way of organisation in technology and also in life as everyday (artistic) practice. Eventually, the network could be transformed into an instrument.
open studio

during the open studio (dec 2007) we

1. explored the hivenetworks framework; hivenetworks.net/
2. did investigate in possibilities of code-development (openwrt buildroot-NG) ;

main outcome decision was to choice of development platform: the openwrt 'kamikaze' 7.09 proved stable / easily configurable / and accessible for further development ;

after the openstudio we invested in hardware : 20 ASUS WL-HDD wifi routers (as is the default hardware used in the hives project) have been ordered, and were used during the January 2008 workshop / these devices stay available at Okno for further development and creative use
workshop

main topics of the January 2008 workshop:

1. installation of kamikaze on pristine asus wl-hdd
2. installation, configuration of OLSR (the mesh routing protocol); and integration in the local brussels 'reseau-citoyen'
3. introduction to use of general networking tools (ifconfig, iptables, netcat,.. )
4. compiling of extra packages to support webcam picture captureing (philips webcams 820k; 840k; toucam2)
5. compiling of packages for serial communication (in/out) – tryouts using arduino (needs more elaborate descrption : output network status, xbee local sensor network )
6. setting up and testing battery powered router ( + field test in brussels canal area, around okno & rue d'ophem RC-antenna's, capturing images and transmitting these over the RC wireless mesh network )
7. first steps were made into hard-disk installation (not bound to on-chip flash memory size, which proved very limited for our needs) – after the workshop this was finished by olme;
8. exploration of the use of datas harvested from the networks nodes systems in artistic ways, “showing the beauty of the network”

general output :

1. methods and description for setup of usable configuration for further use ( rc wiki page on asus wl hdd)
2. public presentation on the workings of wireless mesh networks and it's artistic use (last day of the workshop and later at “dorkbot” in march 2008)



first installations and artworks (during and after the workshop):

1. multi Led light “counter”, a small device that blink faster with more connected nodes on the network by Maxigas and Akos Maroy.

2. generative video installation test with graph of the links quality, mixed with webcam output by Isjtar.

3. a flash application automaticly mixing webcam images out of a node with a ultrasound range controller by Andor Merks and Akos Maroy

4. small timelapse film from a walk with autonomous node with body-webcam
5. timelapse picture archive at the wind turbine workshop (code31/okno feb 2008) and timelapse webcam capture on toproof at “cite modele” (laeken) using battery powered node by Olm-e.
www.oliviermeunier.be/ogeem/videos/movie-bloc2.mov



further developments are taking place

1. mp3/ogg encoder/decoder
2. better picture quality using photocamera (gphoto2 capture)