LABORAL - CENTRO DE ARTE Y CREACIÓN INDUSTRIAL

Artist in Residence 2008. Martin Howse (UK)

The Scrying Project proposes an artistic examination of
electromagnetic (EM) substance and presence within the city and networked
landscape. EM phenomena define a new, unseen space and architecture, a
novel artistic practice, and at the same time question the very nature of
substance. As useful interface or entry point for interrogation of science and
scientific methodology, EM research presents a long and fruitful history for
artistic investigations. Research in the city is centred on a dual substance/data
space formed by numerous emissions from all manner of electronic device and
wire in subtle interaction both with bodies and the sheer materiality of
architecture. Equally such research can be viewed as a performance which
opens these works to a wider audience, colliding DIY technology with streetlevel
curiosity and intrigue.

The project thus proposes the development and complete implementation of a
small, low budget hardware platform for the artistic investigation of EM and
mobile data space. Mobility implies low power use. At the same time
installation requirements and an address to ubiquity make solar-power a key
issue which goes hand in hand with such demands for low power consumption.
These highly mobile devices are intended for use by a growing community of
networked artists with an emphasis in design on the artistic investigation of
radio waves and electromagnetic emissions primarily within the architecture of
the city. Such devices fill a unique technology gap for artists and also function
for an intrigued audience as an 'other' device, markedly different in design and
use than, for example, a phone or small handheld computer.
The platform will be used and in the first instance tailored towards my own
artistic project which examines the explicit exposure of the city's EM double
and alternative, underground messaging systems.
Other artists who have expressed interest in using the generic platform within
their own projects include Nancy Mauro-Flude(AU/NE), Derek Holzer (USA/NE),
Amanda Steggell (UK/NO), Ricardo Miranda Zuniga (USA), and Horia Cosmin
Samoïla(FR).

The core platform is composed of several modules which can be assembled on
site to suit varying purposes and installation. A central module can thus be
expanded with sensors and EM/radio reception/transmission/GPS devices, and
connected to a laptop or desktop for programming and data retrieval.
Additional modules for city play include solar power modules for static,
installation devices, random data transmission modules, and amplifiers and
repeaters to address local EM resonances.

In contrast to other such devices such as Arduino for artistic use, the emphasis
is on networked mobility and, by default, low power consumption and
portability. In further contrast, the artist is less concerned with a transparent
use of technology, but rather an interrogation of the project of science.
This re-usable, suitably generic project, adhering to open source development
principles, will be fully documented online and in a series of workshops for
artists. The open hardware platform is designed in modular fashion to serve all
artists' needs within the domain of totally mobile computation, radio and
networking.