Spectropolis: Mobile Media, Art, and the City

October 1–3 from 12–4 PM, New York City, City Hall Park

Spectropolis is a three-day event (October 1-3, 2004) in Lower Manhattan that highlights the diverse ways artists, technical innovators and activists are using communication technologies to generate urban experiences and public voice. The increasing presence of mobile communication technologies is transforming the ways we live, construct and move through our built environment. The participants of Spectropolis make obvious or play with this shift, creating new urban perceptions and social interactions with cell phones, laptops, wireless internet, PDAs and radio. Don't forget to bring your Wi-Fi enabled laptop or PDA  for an added encounter!Spectropolis Artists: Julian Bleecker, Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki,The DSP Music Syndicate (Ethan Bordeaux, Ben Recht, Noah Vawter, and Brian Whitman), Elizabeth Goodman and Eric Paulos, Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena, Joshua Kinberg, Jeff Knowlton and Naomi Spellman, Karen Lee, Akitsugu Maebayashi, free103point9 transmission artists (Damian Catera, Matt Mikas, Michelle Nagai, and Tom Roe), and Trebor Scholz

Spectropolis is curated by Wayne Ashley, LMCC's curator of New Media and public programs, and artists Yury Gitman and Brooke Singer. Spectropolis is produced by Dana Spiegel, Director of NYCwireless, Jordan Silbert, and Jordan Schuster; and co-sponsored by the Downtown Alliance, NYCwireless, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Spectropolis Workshops

Spectropolis workshops offer hands-on wireless communication play and participation. The workshops aim to educate a non-technical public and demystify a range of technologies through engaging presentations. Workshops

Saturday, October 2 and Sunday October 3; 12 pm and 2 pm

GPS Drawings with Jeremy Wood

Begin at City Hall Park

Saturday, October 2; 1 pm

Umbrella.net with Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Katherine Moriwaki and Ken Greene

The Multipurpose Room at Pace University, enter at One Pace Plaza

Saturday, October 2 and Sunday October 3; 2 pm

Building a Community Hotspot with John Geraci and Dana Spiegel

The Computer Lab-Rm 206 at Pace University, enter at One Pace Plaza

Saturday October 3; 3 pm

Zapped! with Beatriz da Costa, Jamie Schulte and Brooke Singer
The Multipurpose Room at Pace University, enter at One Pace Plaza

Sunday October 3; 1 pm

Oscillating Windows with Katherine Moriwaki and Ken Greene
The Multipurpose Room at Pace University, enter at One Pace Plaza


Spectropolis Panels

"Hot Enough? Art, Activism and Wireless Technology During the Republican National Convention"

Monday, September 27, 7:00 PM. The New School's Lang Center,
55 West 13th Street; Admission: $8.

Webcast and online discussion: DialNSA

The Republican National Convention (RNC) in late August gave rise to a wave of artistic projects employing wireless technology to make specific political statements. Unexpectedly, the RNC thus provided a common focus and purpose to diverse and divergent initiatives and, in hindsight, enables us to assess the efficiency of the new technology. This panel examines how artists employ wireless technology to reach unprecedented masses, to recast the concept of "collaboration," to redefine and politicize the urban environment, and to achieve unparalleled levels of immediacy.

Organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School, on occasion of Spectropolis. Co-sponsored by the Design and Technology Department, Parsons School of Design, and the Department of Communication, The New School.

Participants: Yury Gitman (MagicBike); Natalie Jeremijenko (Clear Skies; Bitradio; Antiterror Line); Joshua Kinberg (Bikes Against Bush); neuroTransmitter (Re-Inventing Radio); and Tad Hirsch (Institute for Applied Autonomy).

Moderator: Jonah Peretti, Director of Research and Design, Eyebeam.


"The Victory of the Commons: The Case for a Public Airwaves Movement"

Wednesday, September 29, 7:00 PM. Multipurpose Room at Pace University, 3 Spruce Street. Admission is $5; free for Pace Students. To order tickets in advance, call 212-346-1715.

Participants evaluate the case for a widespread social movement advocating open spectrum policies led by community wireless groups. Panelists will present the successes and failures of earlier media and technology movements including media reform, low-power FM, public access television, and open source software.


Participants: Chris Anderson (Indymedia New York) Dharma Dailey (Prometheus Radio) Anthony Townsend (NYCwireless) and others, Moderated by Laura Forlano, Columbia University.
Organized by NYCwireless.


"Downtown Dialogue with Spectropolis Artists"

Monday, October 4, 7:00 PM. The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, 3 Spruce Street. Admission is $5; free for Pace students. To order tickets in advance, call 212-346-1715.

How do new media and information technologies continue to influence the form, processes, experience and ideas of urban life? Mobile phones, the internet, Personal Digital Assistants, Geographical Information Systems, Global Positioning Systems, and Virtual Reality are only some of the technologies that continue to effect the ways we navigate through, understand, and act upon the city. In combination with existing media, these tools are giving rise to new forms of electronic culture within the urban landscape. In this panel, Spectropolis artists discuss these trends through a discussion of their individual projects.

Participants: Julian Bleecker, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Katherine Moriwaki and Trebor Scholz

Moderator: Anthony Townsend, Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU