Since 2016
Computer, custom software
“Where have you been?” is an installation investigating the infrastructures of mobile communication that form the backbone of contemporary and future (smart) utopian cities and programmed societies. It consists of a projection displaying seemingly random scenes from Google StreetView. These scenes, however, depict places members of the audience have visited in the past: a frequently used airport, a favorite café, or the own front yard. This information is leaked by the mobile devices entering the exhibition space, which search for available WiFis and by that reveal the networks they were connected to before. “Where have you been?” tries to link these networks to possible geographic origins, using WiFi location data collected by a wardriving community. It is based on passive WiFi tracking – a simple surveillance technique that is employed by government agencies and advertisers alike – and it relies on data from a public counterpart to the private location information inside the databases used by Google and Apple.
Since 2016
Computer, custom software
“Where have you been?” is an installation investigating the infrastructures of mobile communication that form the backbone of contemporary and future (smart) utopian cities and programmed societies. It consists of a projection displaying seemingly random scenes from Google StreetView. These scenes, however, depict places members of the audience have visited in the past: a frequently used airport, a favorite café, or the own front yard. This information is leaked by the mobile devices entering the exhibition space, which search for available WiFis and by that reveal the networks they were connected to before. “Where have you been?” tries to link these networks to possible geographic origins, using WiFi location data collected by a wardriving community. It is based on passive WiFi tracking – a simple surveillance technique that is employed by government agencies and advertisers alike – and it relies on data from a public counterpart to the private location information inside the databases used by Google and Apple.