Artists Statement
Wireless Experience Public Space Project
The Makrolab project began in 1994 and was first realized during Documenta X in 1997. Its final state will be as a permanent art/science/tactical media station on the Antarctic in 2007 with primary research focus on telecommunications, migrations and climate. Up to now, the project has been set up in Germany, Scotland, Slovenia, Australia and Italy, with future plans for India, Canada and South Africa.
The MAKROLAB project was born in 1994 during the wars, that were raging In the former Yugoslavia. Its initial purpose was to function as an autonomous and mobile performance/tactical media environment as it was explained during one of the first conceptual presentations of the project at ISEA94. Ten years later, the project has grown into a complex set of technological, political and environmental subdivisions and phases with the final aim of establishing a permanent art/science/tactical media laboratory and station on the only transnational territory of the planet, the Antarctic, focusing the research on the three global fields of interest for the project, telecommunications, climate and migrations.
The MAKROLAB-UNTP (unmanned network tactical phase) setup, together with the TRUST-SYSTEM S-77CCR platform is a specific net and geo centric focused phase of the project with the emphasis on open source protocol definitions and rapid deployment operations with ad-hoc networking capability for remote sensing and data distribution.
The main MAKROLAB project is now in two different development technological stages, one consisting of the extreme temperature and climate conditions research development and the other consisting of a social and renewable energy modular setup for temperate climates. Subprojects include unmanned areal sea and ground vehicle development for sensor deployment, sensor and network centric paradigm research. The ISEA 2004 MAKROLAB-UNTP consists of a communications and information node in the Kiasma museum, presenting the specifics of the project’s past and future plans, with the emphasis on the unmanned aerial vehicle operations (TRUST-SYSTEM 77, S-77CCR) and tactical communications and of setting up a base of operations on the Tammakari island in the Helsinki archipelago using the new MAKROLAB-RDU (rapid deployment unit), an instant architecture rapid deployment building, developed for tactical media setups, that need high turnaround times, rapid deployment and quick disengagement. A new radar unit for sea/air monitoring and locating is used and locative media research pertaining to satellite navigation and radar integration (GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO) is planned using the RDU in the days from August 19-30. Data streams and work reports are sent directly to the communications and information node in the museum and online.
A policy document pertaining to sat-nay and locative media usage will be issued upon the completion of the project, part of the tactical media workshop ‘TCM PROGRESS — SOURCING THE INPUTS / MAPPING THE OUTPUTS’ which will be the main operation framework for the Lab in these days.
Projekt Atol work with various international organisations such as the E-C-B, WIO and the WTN. Projekt Atol Flight Operations, one of their many activities, serves as the main flight operations coordinator for the art-science projects in microgravity conditions in conjunction with the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. Projekt Atol was founded in Slovenia in 1992 as an arts organisation to work in the performance, media and technology, communications and situations fields. It founded its technical R&D branch, Pact Systems in 1995 and is coordinating the Makrolab, Insular Technologies and Transhub (transhub.org) projects. The organisation has 3 permanent members and more than 50 collaborators. s-77ccr.org
- Marko Peljhan is a native of Slovenia and a theatre and radio director by profession, he founded the arts and technology organization Projekt Atol in the early 90s and cofounded one of the first media labs in Eastern Europe, LJUDMILA, in 1995. In the same year, he founded the technology branch of Projekt Atol called PACT SYSTEMS where he developed the Global Positioning System based participatory networked mapping project, the Urban Colonisation and Orientation Gear 144, one of the first works in the s.c. “locative media” genre.[source: lifeboat.com/ex/bios.marko.peljhan]
- Dr. Tomaž Šuštar, Slovenia, Centre for Computational Continuum Mechanics hc3m.si
Full text p. 62-63
MAKROLAB-UNTP is supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the City council for Culture of the City of Ljubljana and Mobitel d.d. Ljubljana. Further support: Trelleborg Protective Products AB, Ystad, University of California at Santa Barbara, rix-c Riga