Invisible Agency is a series of dynamic artistic data visualization interfaces connecting real-time city spaces that aimed to investigate data manipulation across distributed technology networks. Working with Wavecom (Portugal) in real-time data from smart cities, as global pollution and environmental data initially, the residency team also investigated WiFi signals in the urban landscape ubiquitous presence.
The artworks created all repurpose data to raise further questions about the fluid, liquid, real-time data space, that now surrounds, envelops, and monitors everyone everywhere. Three experimental prototype artworks that visualize city wide agency as a collective, performative, and collaborative experience were produced. One of this prototype reforms the total WiFi -an area in range- as an orchestra of sounds. With this “sonification”, each time a phone is turned on, it takes part in an orchestra. Another artwork demonstrates and discloses WiFi traffic as an electronic systems artwork, through a map form. And the last one, a mapping data, allows software visualizations of pollution, weather, and environmental data from Portugal. The residency outcomes are, in essence, representation of the WIFI activity in Portugal, a portrait of the country. The software is a 3D living art form that shows the complete data system all at once.
Work by M. Stanza in partnership with ART ANTENNA (Wavecom) with the support of the VERTIGO project as part of the S+T+ARTS program of the European Commission.
