„We should be able to manner your devices behaviour – but first you need to be aware of what they do!“ (Jaromil)


The series Speculative Technologies opened a space for the discussion of technoimaginations beyond commercialization and control. The focus was on strategies from digital culture and media art, which understand technology as principles of open systems, accessibility, changeability, versatility, emancipation and self-empowerment. The aim was not just to consume a perfectly designed product, but to convey a creative approach to technology and the knowledge of how it works. Speculative Technologies asked which “other” technologies are conceivable.

The workshop in September was aimed at artists and designers who, for example, want their installations to react to network traffic and allow things to communicate with each other in real time; and it was aimed at hackers who work with open source, cryptography and intelligent proxies, and many others who are interested in a critical, artistic and creative approach to technology. The workshop will be led by italian media artist and researcher Jaromil.

With his independent software company Dyne.com, Jaromil has developed, among other things, a device which is able to track the activity in our networks, share resources with friends and neighbours – and finally to protect our own LAN: DOWSE is an invention based on open source and open hardware principles which can be set up on a low-cost board (like a Raspberry Pi or an OlinuXino). Jaromil helped workshop participants to create their own box and to work together on ideas for artistic applications.
More info about Jaromil
More info about Dyne.com
More info about DOWSE

The workshop took place at the space Rekorder II, Scharnhorststraße 68, in Dortmund.

The workshop was organized by the office medienwerk.nrw and is part of the workshop series “Speculative Technologies”. The workshop was funded within the framework of the Individual Artists’ Funding (IKF) of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The office medienwerk.nrw is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW. Office hosted by: Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund.