Mobile phone towers, WiFi antennas, bluetooth headsets… All of these correspond to the tangible underpinnings of the so-called “virtual interactions” people have with their computers and smartphones. The urban environment, more than anywhere else, is filled with such devices and the myriads of services they rely on. Although these technological components are fundamental, they are often invisible and unbeknown to most of us. Their existence, often dismissed as banal and purely technical, is, however both fundamental as they shape our social and political interactions.

This workshop invited students to look at electromagnetic waves and the infrastructures that generate them. After an introduction on the topic of radio waves and observation tactics, students use this toolbox during a three-day field survey phase during which they walked through the urban space of Geneva. The goal of these walks was to collect data and information on various themes (list of antennas and networks, their various types, network intensity, routers, network names, perception of waves by inhabitants etc.). Based on the material students have collected, they explored electromagnetic waves in a playful, critical and artistic way by translating their observations into a series of videos. Each of them address various issues regarding the increasing expansion of objects and infrastructures that generate radio waves in urban space.

Students
Léonie Courbat
Marine Faroud-Boget
Flore Garcia
Mariia Gulkova
Narges Hamidi Madani
Amaury Hamon
Margot Herbelin
Elie Hofer
Dorian Jovanovic
Tomislav Levak
Louka Najjar
José Camilo Palacio Constain
Faustine Périllaud
Michelle Ponti
Hanieh Rashid
Tibor Udvari
Nathan Zweifel

Enseignant.e.x.s
Nicolas Nova
Fragmentin