Darija Medić – Installation: ”On the air browser radio show”

Project: ”On the air browser radio show”
Darija Medić

Introductions by artist are held:
Sat 26th 3:10pm – 3:30pm and 4:00pm – 4:20pm
Open Resource Area

Sun 27th 3.20-3.40pm
Open Platform Stage

Broadcasts
Sun 27th 2:40pm, 4.30pm, 5:30pm, 6:30pm
Open Resource Area

On the air browser radio show is an artistic intervention in a Firefox browser dealing with the subject of typing in a centralized system such as the Internet. The medium of the radio is used to broadcast what people type in a browser, making a parallel to Brechts critique of the one sidedness of a radio communication model, only now referring to Internet communication. The narrator of the broadcasts is Google’s text to speech synthesizer, the comforting voice of a warm Big Brother, narrating in a dadaistic style. It is inspired by the same Brecht, who revolutionized theatre with his epic drama, based on the “alienation effect”.

During the presentation this project will be explained in the light of what mobility can mean in a reality of constant information exchange and surveilled production. While our mobility is traced by data mining algorithms, parallel profiles are structured, growing more stable by every „submit“ action. If we think of the possibilities to create complete personal data profiles, from various services, the so-called digital shadow is in fact a literal tracer of mobility, questioning its very meaning. On the air browser radio show works by 1) storing all the data typed in any text field in a browser 2) broadcasting the text through an fm transmitter on an empty frequency on the radio spectrum. It uses a greasemonkey/php script and the enchanting voice of Google translate text to speech on the software side, and an FM transmitter, radio and usually computer on the hardware side.
The project has been presented in December 2010. in Rotterdam, in a speed-show of PZI Networked media students, and on Mindware festival in Lublin, Poland, in September 2011.

Image: Darija Medić