Ghostradio (2014)

Ghostradio is a physical mechanism that generates random numbers through chance. Cyber-culture has become problematic for our democratic societies. Instead of using digital technologies for social development, a panopticon powered by supercomputers has been created. Internet communication gets copied for content analysis by spy agencies and corporations. At the moment, information exchanges on the internet are  either in plaintext, or they use, for 'secure' transmission, encryption. For cryptograpic methods to be safe it is essential to create a very good random key. Usually these keys are produced by pseudorandom generators. As they are produced by algorithms, they are not really random, and can be outguessed with the help of powerful computers. In order to tackle this issue, the artists have built a ghostradio device that produces real random numbers. Referring to the use of chance in art and to the Second Order cybernetics of Heinz von Förster, Ghostradio depoloys feedback and quantum effects to create random numbers from the boundaries of reality and beyond. Ghostradio publishes the resulting random number datastream for the generation of cryptographic keys. This will release the public from the current state of surveillance.

Biography

Pamela Neuwirth

Lives in linz and works as author, free journalist und radio editor. at the moment she works as well as an undertaker (mortician). during several working-collaborations with artists and writers she currently investigates in fascism and architecture (Demant revisited), in art brut and psychiatry (Irren-Offensive) and in the field of chance and cryptography (Ghostradio Project).

Markus Decker

Works on improvisation, noise and on spatial experimental situations. in the 90ties, he was part of some net-tech-groups, produced regular netcasts, and ran a small netradiostation together with joachim schnaitter, in the framework of the xchange netradio initiative and firstfloor electronix. markus is working on collaborative artworks with like-minded computer professionals and artists. the works have been shown in places such as, blasthaus san francisco, kontejner zagreb, file sao paulo, nomadenetappe and ars electronica linz, interaccess gallery toronto, etc. he frequently collaborates with the architect dietmar offenhuber, the artist ushi reiter and servus.at, the artist laura beloff, dilemma- interstellar- records and richard herbst, among others.
http://www.firstfloor.org/ae

Franz Xaver

Has studied at the academy of applied art, department of ”visual communication” founded by peter weibel. subsequently he was teaching computer languages, audio-visual productions, electronics and electrical technics at the same academy until 1992. at the technical university of graz he was lecturing at the departure ”institut fuer baukunst” - ”communication theory”. He was participating in numerous exhibitions in austria and abroad, including ars electronica, aperto biennale di venezia, triennale milano, bonn kunst und ausstellungshalle from germany. since 1995 he has been working regularly with the art-label KUNSTLABOR and FUNKFEUER with the first wireless internet service provider ”silverserver”. From 2003 to 2007 he has been running the medienkunstlabor in the kunsthaus graz. Since 2008 he is a worker in the team of the stadtwerkstatt linz.