OCTO: A Global Pipe Dream Come True

OCTO-P7C-1 Intertubular Pneumatic Packet Distribution System is transmediale 2013’s Official Miscommunication Platform and is the result of a joint collaboration between the reSource transmedial culture berlin/transmediale, the Berlin-based collective Telekommunisten and the raumlabor berlin group.

OCTO P7C-1 INTERTUBULAR PNEUMATIC PACKET DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM - A Global Pipe Dream Come True!  

On the occasion of transmediale 2013, Telekommunisten unveil the most radically disruptive project in the history of telecommunications to potential investors and partners, bringing the transformative power of digital communication to the physical sphere with a global sharing platform for the transmission of physical objects. OCTO is building a global system to interconnect every household and place of business with pneumatic tubes, which permits high-speed delivery of packages to and from any subscriber worldwide.  

The first OCTO prototype system provides unprecedented vacuum-speed, physical, capsule-packet communications, enhancing the social experience and creativity of the transmediale visiting public. The OCTO prototype system is installed throughout the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, connecting all the event spaces, integrating thematic activities like never before. A functional prototype of central capsule router/distributor P7C-1 demonstrates advanced performativity, and elegant modular remote stations inspire a new generation to imagine the effortless experience of the future of pneumatic messaging right in the comfort of their homes or offices!  Be one of the first to invest in the next wave in social, making the social physical: OCTO!  

OCTO-P7C-1 Intertubular Pneumatic Packet Distribution System is the result of a joint collaboration between the reSource transmedial culture berlin/transmediale, the Berlin-based collective Telekommunisten and raumlabor berlin.

OCTO P7C-1 is the Official Miscommunication Platform of transmediale 2013

More info: www.telekommunisten.net/octo   

PNEUMAtic circUS A Networked Art Extravaganza by Vittore Baroni 

OCTO-P7C-1 features PNEUMAtic circUS, a networked art project curated by Vittore Baroni and involving a network of more than 100 international mail artists. PNEUMAtic circUS is the first networked art project of pneumatic post: interaction at a distance between a wide network of international networkers, visitors and artists present at transmediale. Berlin is one of very few cities in the world that offered for a long time a public service of Pneumatic Tube Transport, with messages dispatched in small cylindrical containers propelled by compressed air through a network of tubes: The local Rohrpost. Vittore Baroni invited over a hundred international mail artists to contribute pneumatic post capsules containing instructions and scores to be used by transmediale festival visitors for small actions and performances at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.  In a creative clash of innovative and obsolete technology, PNEUMAtic circUS is a living kinetic sculpture, a do-it-yourself prototype and parody of a corporate social network, a (usually) virtual experience turned physical through 3D messages that travel in handmade cylindrical containers and real live action: a challenge for all involved to expose themselves in the “circUS rings” (the specific areas of the installation dedicated to the extemporary visitors’ interventions).  

As Vittore Baroni points out, “a social network is a small mediatic ‘circus’ where the ‘I’ becomes ‘US’ (circUS). When you register to be part of a social network, you sign a small Faustian pact with the devil: You will probably gain something from the experience, but you will also lose some of your time and with it a piece of your soul (or PNEUMA), while Big Brother keeps a watchful eye on your activities. The handmade capSOULe artworks (or pieces of the mail artists’ souls) have been arriving at the transmediale headquarters over the past few months, boosting excitement and anticipation of the PNEUMAtic circUS. We look forward to your spontaneous PNEUMAtic intervention at transmediale 2013!

Over 100 capSOULes by 92 authors from 16 countries:

Supervisors: Lutz Wohlrab, Karla Sachse, Tatiana Villani, Manuel Perna, Topsy Qur'et, Theis Vallø Madsen

Graphics: Jonas Frankki

THE GIZ ALUMNI NETWORK COLLABORATION
The OCTO P7C-1 – Intertubular Pneumatic Packet Distribution System – is a network art project investigating technological network development and the social and political effects of network communication. To reflect on the state of social network services today, transmediale established a partnership with GIZ, The German Agency for International Cooperation (Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), to encourage the visitors to rethink what social networking can be. Reflecting on this issue, two months before the festival, transmediale initiated dialogue with the GIZ Alumni community portal, a social network that seeks to create sustainable dialogue and a learning process for international cooperation.

The output of the online dialog is visible at the festival as content for different capsules running in the OCTO P7C-1 installation, addressing themes like the global history of networking technologies, contemporary social networking and network-based artistic approach. The capsules contain quotes from the online discussions such as opinions, figures, individual stories on network experiences and other related media, and blank sheets of paper on which the visitors of the festival can offer their own opinions on the subject.

This project is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

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OCTO: A Global Pipe Dream Come True

OCTO: A Global Pipe Dream Come True

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Telekommunisten (Baruch Gottlieb, Dmytri Kleiner)

Vittore Baroni

Lutz Wohlrab

Karla Sachse

Tatiana Bazzichelli

Baruch Gottlieb

Seidenstrasse at the CCC Congress: The Pipe Dream goes on!