In this paper, I will connect offline networks with art mediation and artistic practices. My main case study will be Spaces for reflection1, a project that included students, artists and researchers as part of a longterm intervention in an art mediation context. It explored the perception of visitors and the possibilities of public participation in mega-exhibitions of contemporary art. The team’s main research fields were documenta142, the 10th Berlin Biennale3, and the 6th Athens Biennale4.
During these exhibitions, the group installed an offline network using the code of Pirate Box, ”a DIY anonymous offline file-sharing and communications system built with free software and inexpensive off the-shelf hardware5, in a Raspberry Pi device. In the meantime, they used, explored and discussed its possibilities with the visitors of these three exhibitions. Furthermore, the artist Mattin6 was invited to discuss the use of a similar offline network in his performance Social Dissonance7 during documenta14.
Moreover, in this article, these practices will be connected with the deleuzian and guattarian thought, exploring how this offline router was able to create anonymous rhizomes of a networking community and smooth spaces between its users. Last, I will attempt to demonstrate how this practice of the offline network embodied the demand for an abolition of organization, subjectification and signifiance, and how it can be used as a war machine in contemporary art.
Keywords: offline networks, art mediation, open workshops, copyleft, DIY, Deleuze & Guattari, nomadism
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