Interactive installation / public intervention
Relationships between Cubans living on the island and those who have emigrated have been conditioned by specific political and economic circumstances -depending on the time period-. Both contexts handle concepts like emigration, freedom, and nation, most of the time from opposite perspectives, marked by resentments and differences of ideas. This project uses the triad poetry-aphorisms-technology to create micro poems, many of them bilingual. I set out to collaborate with young Cuban poets from the same generation: some reside on the island; others are first-generation born in Miami. The poems respond to two requirements: they have a maximum of 30 characters (standard SSID length on Wi-Fi systems) and express the personal vision of their authors about Cuba. In both Miami and Havana, these “ideas from Cuba” will be in the air, in the public space, waiting -literally- for a signal to be captured through Wi-Fi connections, reaching hundreds of users and potential readers.
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It is a device developed for this project to emit multiple Wi-Fi signals at the same time. It makes use of a WEMOS D1 Wi-Fi prototyping board, commonly used in IoT (Internet of Things) products. It allows extending the functionality by connecting Shields.
This device has two versions: one designed for indoors, which needs direct electrical connection and has a range of 100 to 150 meters of signal; and a second one developed for outdoors, with a security system, waterproof 3D printed box, and a self-sustainable clean energy system. This system uses a solar panel and its plate reuses the charging port of a recycled power bank. This outdoor version has a range of 200 to 300 meters of stable Wi-Fi signal and can survive for more than 5 months without human intervention.
The software used is based on a Wi-Fi flooder. It generates spores in the form of Wi-Fi packets and does not allow a stable connection, although they do appear on people’s phones as legitimate Wi-Fi networks.
This technique is common in the world of hacking and state espionage to take control over networks, or to trick users into believing they are connected to a legitimate access point when in fact they could be being spied on. In this project, it is used for its ability to invade the Hertzian waves with poetry and reproduce that scenario in the Wi-Fi parks in the Cuban context.
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CREDIT
Participating poets: Ismaray Pozo, Mario Espinosa, Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, Oscar Cruz, Jamila Medina Ríos, Legna Rodríguez Iglesias, Lisann Ramos, Javier L. Mora, Adonis Ferro, Lizabel Mónica, Katherine Bisquet, Kyle Carrero Lopez, Sindy Rivery Elejalde, Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas, Cuci Amador, Yosie Crespo, Julián Bravo Rodríguez, Ricardo Mayo, Randy Amor and Ylena Zamora-Vargas.
Concept co-developer: Luis Rodil-Fernández
Software developer: Luis Rodil-Fernández
Editor: J. Medina Ríos
Project assistant: Yainet Rodríguez
Copy editor: César Segovia
Graphic designer: Noah Levy
Hardware developer: Copincha
Hardware designer: Maurice Haedo Sanabria
Hardware assembly: Lázaro Alejandro Navarro Méndez
3D printing: Eduardo Puyol
Special Thanks: Julia Weist, Enedys Seijo Planes, Sindy Rivery, Lizabel Mónica, Chuli Herrera, Steffen Köhn, Petra Novackova and Paola Calvo.
Commissioned by O, Miami and Fountainhead.
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