University of Leeds

Although you can see the map of Manhattan seems like a grid system, the streets in New York are more complicated. The streets are not straight and they are affected by the occupations and ethnic background of residents and other historic/political/economic/
religious factors. You can imagine that you will be hard to find near
churches but Starbucks always provide Wi-Fi. And this is the reason why I focuses on the routes than the geographic map. I can find more Wi-Fi in the business area in New York as in London. Geographical space is important but I wanted to understand how it interact with the users than take it as a objective distribution.

Yes, it will be an independent project and I am trying different ways to represent it in a scale of longer time and more broad space. I am not interested in mapping the Wi-Fi locations but paint them in artistic way.

Media is a complicated issue. I like both digital and traditional art,
so I tried to bridge them with different media. I chose to print my works and displayed them in a metro station, because traditional exhibition is easier accessed by the public, especially the elders; I
walked in the streets to collect Wi-Fi information rather than using the existing Wi-Fi database, because I wanted to paint the landscape what my naked eyes see as the traditional artists. I think the digital art and fine art are not the opposite and the collaboration of them can help us create more unprecedented and interesting artworks

Wi-Fi video version 2

version 2

My Wi-Fi music

Dear All,
I am Jung-Hua Liu and a fine art PhD student in University of Leeds.
My project aims to visualise ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks with web
colours and “house societies” study in anthropology. I will introduce
and exhibit my artwork in my three-stage degree show. The three stages
are engaged with Wi-Fi space issue. The first stage is a locked room
in physical space; the second is both of the real space and
cyberspace; and the final is cyberspace.

1. The documentary ( 29/09/2010, 14:00 – 18:00, Lifton studio.)
I will introduce my project and display related material and
immaterial artwork to the audience.
This main method of this stage is conversation.
(Please contact me for the visiting, I will open door for you. My
email is [email protected])

2. Online Performance (04/10/2010, 14:00-14:30,
http://fireant.itaiwan.net/cyborg_exhibition.php)
In addition to the first stage, the audience can see how I
practice my concept and how the artwork was produced. I will collect
Wi-Fi information in London then upload them immediately to create
real-time landscapes. This performance involves in the real world and
cyberspace.
The website is open now and the audience are welcome to take a
glance at it before the performance.

3. UpStage (10/10/2010, 20:00 and 24:00,
http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=1662)

The final stage is the UpStage festival.
UpStage is an international art festival with other 18 artists. In
this performance, I will show my web artworks to the audience located
in 7 real access nodes in different countries.
In the second stage, I uploaded Wi-Fi information in the real world to
cyberspace and I will distribute the produced artwork from cyberspace
to the real world in the final stage.
Besides the 7 nodes, everyone also can access the performance via
laptops and desktops (no iPhone and iPad, because this is a flash
platform).
You can obtain the more information from the following article.

* Performances announced for 101010 UpStage Festival *

A record 19 performances have been selected for the 101010 UpStage
Festival <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=680>, the fourth annual
showcase of cyberformance using the UpStage platform, which takes place
this year on and around 10 October.

Artists from 11 countries, traversing seven time zones, will present
shows on a wide variety of themes. Common to all shows is the use of
UpStage <http://upstage.org.nz/>, a web-based platform that enables
remote performers to collaborate in real time for an online audience.
Audiences can easily access the performances with only a standard web
browser and internet connection, and there will be “real life access
nodes” in some locations.

Festival curators Vicki Smith, Dan Untitled and Helen Varley Jamieson
said that once again the call for proposals had resulted in a diversity
of ideas, themes and approaches. “We don’t place any restrictions on the
artists, other than the length of their shows (not longer than 20
minutes),” says Jamieson. “We leave the form and content open to
encourage experimentation and innovation. It also means the programme
has something for everyone.”

This year, the programme has been divided into four groups. “Temporal”
groups together shows which explore sound and movement across time and
networks. The performances in “Trajectory” follow traces, trails and
tracks. Thought-provoking and brain-teasing shows can be found in
“Tendrils”, while those in “Transgress” invite audiences to cross
boundaries or limits.

—
Wi-Fi art project:http://fireant.itaiwan.net/wireless/en/
Wi-Fi art blog:http://wificolour.blogspot.com/
Wi-Fi artworks in progress:http://fireant.itaiwan.net/urban_image/



Wi-Fi networks are popular in metropolitans around the world. Besides the infrastructures, Wi-Fi connection is available in blooming personal devices, including mobile phones, laptops, cameras and walkmans. Ubiquitous Wi-Fi machines construct peculiar urban landscapes. In the one hand, Wi-Fi access points create invisible signal landscapes; in the other hand, Wi-Fi notice boards and symbols constitute visible landscapes. In the invisible, the signals create connections among separate devices which are the extension of Wi-Fi users. The devices perform their function to satisfy users’ needs. Beyond tool, such as cars and airplanes, Wi-Fi devices immerse users in continuous Wi-Fi environments. In addition to invisible landscapes, users also live and act in visible Wi-Fi landscape. Users can see the Wi-Fi sticker on their devices and in fast food restaurants, pubs, cafe and telephone booths. More and more users go to the mentioned places for Wi-Fi not for sandwiches and coffee. The behaviour made Wi-Fi users becoming the part of urban Wi-Fi landscapes. In advance, Wi-Fi users are the flesh and blood part of Wi-Fi networks. The combination of Wi-Fi networks and human bodies transforms Wi-Fi users as cyborg, cybernetic organism.

Wi-Fi cyborg blurs the boundary of human/machine, subjective/objective, central/peripheral, technology/culture, dominant/dominated and imagination/embodiment. Users connect to the Internet via their devices and Wi-Fi access points. However, Wi-Fi devices also connect to different Wi-Fi access points to expand their networks by human’s move. Human may not be the dominant/subject and devices may not be the dominated/object. Wi-Fi access points seem the center of Wi-Fi networks but moving cyborg could be the center of multiple networks. Wi-Fi cyborgs move according to their daily life and the diverse routes from cyborgs create their cultures. Wi-Fi cyborgs seems the fictive imagination but they are embodied in users’ behaviours and prevailing Wi-Fi devices.

My artworks were inspired by Taipei Wi-Fi plan and proceeded in other four cities, including London, New York, Chicago and Hong Kong. I collect BSSIDs by myself and record my routes. BSSIDs, dates and routes constitute my artworks. To create artworks to express the obscure borders, I chose colour chart on webpage as the media. Colour is both of human and machine. In human societies, colours have their cultural and spiritual meaning; for machine, colours are sets of numbers and alphabets. Besides colours, a series of chart could be the beginning and the end. Webpage is the popular media to embody the imagination, especially dynamic pages. PHP, a script language, was employed to create my colour chart artworks. These artworks present the blurred boundaries and argue cyborgs have their cognition to perceive their urban Wi-Fi landscapes