ELECTROMAGNETIC GEOGRAPHIES

A one week intensive workshop with Julian Oliver followed by an exhibition.

Participating artists: Birgit Bachler, Josh Bailey, Adam Ben-Dror, Sasha Francis, Jack Gittings, Emi Pogoni, Achille Segard, Erica Sklenars, Tryg Verran.

Property partner - Willis Bond and Cuba Holdings

Location: 106 Cuba Street, Wellington

Dates: 10 - 30 May 2021

Photography: Milan Maric and Linda Lee

Website: JulianOlver.com

Media: Artist-engineer reveals hidden electromagnetic realities of Wellington

Electromagnetic Geographies, led by artist and critical engineer Julian Oliver was the first of the 2021 Letting Space commissions. 

It was as much about sharing new skills with an enthusiastic community as it was about putting on an exhibition, finding ways of making the invisible spectrum, visible.

After a week of rapid learning around the range and legal bands of radio waves, plus the multitude of ways to read and measure them, many of the participants decided they'd like to create a show of objects, artefacts of the workshop.   

The display includes an antenna designed to reach the International Space Station broadcast (Charlotte Parallel, James Hope, Erica Sklenars and Birgit Bachler), a self-driving Lamborghini (built by Adam Ben-Dror), technology for sharing codes from the days of Cold War (Josh Bailey) and the jamming of radio waves with readings from Te Tiriti (Sasha Francis and Achille Segard). Also on display are a vegetable theramin (Jack Gittings); a wifi wand to read the IP addressses of surrounding devices (pictured, Emi Pogoni), plus an allusion to a Celtic myth of a serpent that patrols the electromagnetic spere (Tryg Verran).