The 14th Annual Subtle Technologies Festival in collaboration with Designing Digital Media for the Internet of Things (DDiMIT) presents The Network as Material Workshop with Julian Oliver :: May 28-30, 2011 :: DDiMIT, 376 Bathurst St, Toronto ON M5T 2S6 :: Register here.

In this three day workshop media artist Julian Oliver guides participants through an in depth study of the network as a medium for creating art. The workshop explores the many tools available for interrogating and manipulating data over both wired and wireless networks. Most of these tools are typically reserved for IT specialists, however this workshop puts them in the hands of artists or anyone wishing to learn about the potential creative potential of using networks. From sculpting data to turning network traffic into sound, poetry and images the participant will gain a deep appreciation for networks and the vast terrain they provide for artistic intervention and creation. Some topics of exploration include:

– Network as landscape
– Network topologies
– Meteorology of a network
– Demonstrations using UNIX utilities
– Ports and protocols
– Network archaeology
– Demonstrations using UNIX utilities and Python Scapy
– Understanding WiFi as a radio device
– Packet capture using libPCAP
– Packet analysis using Scapy
– Network packet poetry
– Network packet actions
– Network packet sculpture
– Demonstrations using UNIX utilities and Python Scapy
– Drawing with networks
– Sonification of network chat (Facebook, AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo)

Julian Oliver – TEDxRotterdam 2010 from TEDxRotterdam on Vimeo.

Julian Oliver is an New Zealander based in Berlin. He has been active in the critical intersection of art and technology since 1998. His projects and the occasional paper have been presented at many museums, international electronic-art events and conferences, including the Tate Modern, Transmediale, Ars Electronica and the Japan Media Arts Festival. His work has received several awards, ranging across technical excellence, artistic invention and interaction design. Julian has given numerous workshops and master classes in software art, augmented reality, creative hacking, data forensics, object-oriented programming for artists, virtual architecture, artistic game-development, information visualisation, UNIX/Linux and open source development practices worldwide. He is a long-time advocate of the use of free software in artistic production, distribution and education.