The choice to go “off the cloud” stems from current disillusionment with networked connectivity, reaching instead for the potential of emerging user-owned and user-controlled infrastructures. Over the last decade a growing scene of artists, hackers, and network practitioners has been actively working on creating community networks, ad-hoc connectivity, and autonomous systems of sensing and data collecting. But how feasible are the changes these groups want to see? Following last year’s offline networks unite! panel at transmediale and several specially organised workshops, Off-the-Cloud Zone brings together various actors to discuss the challenges, barriers, and possibilities of the field. With open conversation formats and hands-on demonstrations, the event seeks new strategies of joining forces and building common tools to take users beyond the sovereignty of the cloud.

Organized in collaboration with the MAZI project.
transmediale Co-Curricular is carried out in cooperation with Allianz Kulturstiftung.

11:00-11:15
Welcoming, introductions & short presentation of Polylogue by the Design Research Lab (UdK Berlin)

11.15-13.00
The politics of infrastructure & the re-emergence of community networks

How and why did community networks evolve?
What were the challenges of the late 90s and what are the issues being faced today?
What were and are the legal and economical issues that need to be faced?

Open discussion with Dennis de Bel & Roel Roscam Abbing, Lori Emerson, Juergen Neumann, Evan Light, Sarah Grant Moderated by Panayotis Antoniadis, Daphne Dragona and James Stevens.

14:30-16:30
Presentations & hands on demonstrations
[14.30] Evan Light: "Snowden Archive-in-a-Box", an offline archiving network & surveillance demonstration tool
[15.00] Dennis Rojo aka Jaromil, Federico Bonelli, Radovan Misovic aka Rad0 & Natacha Roussel: "Dowse", a hub for aware local area networks
[15.30] Christoph Wachter & Mathias Jud: "Qaul.net", a software & model for autonomous ad hoc networking
[16.00] George Klissiaris, Ilias Marmaras and Stewart Ziff: "Sarantaporo.gr", a commons based infrastructure for a community network connecting a group of villages in Northern Greece

Moderated by Panayotis Antoniadis & Ileana Apostol.

What are the goals behind the development of these system and networks?
What are the advantages and difficulties faced regarding their design and usability?
What are their potentialities and future uses?

16:30-17:30
Open slot for individual meetings and discussions with the initiators of the above networks and systems

18:30-20:30
Expanding the scope of DIY & offline networking

How literate are today's users on issues of infrastructures?
Which groups and populations can nowadays be empowered through offline networks?
What can art and critical design/critical making offer?
How can new collaborations emerge?

Open discussion with Ileana Apostol, James Bridle, Adam Burns, Sarah T. Gold, Monic Meisel, Andreas Unteidig, Danja Vasiliev Moderated by James Stevens and Daphne Dragona.

Die Entscheidung, „off the cloud“ zu gehen, beruht auf der Desillusionierung in Bezug auf vernetzte Konnektivität und gleichzeitig auf dem Bedürfnis, stattdessen das Potenzial aufkommender userkontrollierter Infrastrukturen zu nutzen. Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt hat eine wachsende Gemeinschaft von Künstler_innen, Hacker_innen und Netzwerk-Expert_innen aktiv an Community-Netzwerken, Ad-Hoc-Konnektivität und autonomen Systemen für das Erfassen und Sammeln von Daten gearbeitet. Aber wie praktikabel sind die Veränderungen, für die sich diese Gruppen einsetzen? Anschließend an das bei der vergangenen transmediale veranstaltete Panel offline networks unite! und die dazugehörigen Workshops bringt die Off-the-Cloud Zone verschiedene Akteur_innen zusammen, um die Herausforderungen, Hürden und Möglichkeiten dieses Feldes zu diskutieren. Mit offenen Gesprächsformaten und praktischen Demonstrationen erkundet die Veranstaltung neue Strategien des Zusammenschlusses und Entwickelns gemeinsamer Tools, mit deren Hilfe sich User_innen von der Cloud emanzipieren können.

In Kollaboration mit dem MAZI-Projekt
transmediale Co-Curricular wird in Zusammenarbeit mit der Allianz Kulturstiftung durchgeführt.