<nettime> fada'=EDat chronicle, through spaces at Fortress EU's southwest = border

[pablo de soto <pdesoto@wewearbuildings.cc>]

=2E..about the construction of new territories crossing over the Schengen=
=20
borders... to think of and to take part in the conflicting intensity of=20
the border as the place we live...


FADA'=CDAT>> Through spaces at Fortress EU=B4s southwest border.



#Nomad Media-lab at the Marshan, Tangier 22.06.04. ISS over the Straits in=
=20
the laptop screen=20
http://www.hackitectura.net/osfavelados/txts/fadaiat_2004/txt01_tangernight=
=2Ejpg


"Project=B4s codename is Fada'=EDat, which means "through spaces" in arab. =
The=20
word Fada'=EDat is also used to mean satellite dish and space ship.

After many months of preparation hackitectura and many diverse collectives=
=20
are working on the field: a very tense and militarized EU border. Our=20
location now is a medieval castle in Tarifa, in front of a detainee=20
migrant camp at the southeastern point of continental Europe. In a few=20
hours we will try the wifi link to Tangiers, Morocco.

More than Fada'=EDat as a poetic virtual bridge project, or as a symbolic=
=20
north-south free network link (after Perejil island conflict and the 11-M=
=20
bombings in Madrid).....The aim of Fada'=EDat no border temporary media lab=
=20
is to remain as a permament public media interface, part of the counter=20
hegemonic cyborg that we imagine at the gate of Mediterranean sea."

>> as published at Smart Mobs 22 june 2004


# Madiaq Lan Diagram, geography from satellite view and global=20
connections.=20
http://www.hackitectura.net/osfavelados/txts/fadaiat_2004/estrecho_geografi=
a02.jpg



FRAME OF ACTION: A LAB ABOUT LABOR, POLITICS AND ART ON THE FRONTIER.

Transactions/fada'=EDat (http://fadaiat.net) was an event that happened in=
=20
June 2004, between Tarifa and Tangier: i.e. on the border between Fortess=
=20
Europe and North Africa. Continuing with the Multitude Connected project,=
=20
(La Rabida, Huelva, 2003), it was a social, political, technological and=20
artistic laboratory that brought together a wide group of activists.-=20
migration, labor rights, gender, communication...-, political theorists,=20
hackers, union organizers, architects and artists to think about the=20
relations between freedom of knowledge and freedom of movement in a=20
society of globalised information production.

However, it wasn't only about thinking, but above all about doing: Our aim=
=20
was to construct a complex situation traversed by a multiplicity of=20
counter hegemonic flows, of bodies and data, with the potential to become=
=20
a nodal moment in the multitudinary processes emerging in the geopolitical=
=20
territory of the Straits of Gibraltar: An event able to multiply the=20
rhizome, to multiplex the assemblages, to construct new unconscious, to=20
produce new desires... A catalyst and accelerator of genetic algorithms of=
=20
new worlds...


# Planning of the wifi link, as sent to ITU Morocco Office for permission.=
=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D239

# Tactical cartography of the Straits, in progress (Beta State - Side A)=20
madiaq indymedia. http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D226



DETERRITORIALIZING LIGHTNING


GEO: Tarifa >36 00,1' N 05 36,5' W / Tangier >35 43.4'N. 05 54.6'W DATE:=20
22-23 June 23=3D(midsummer night's eve)

The participation of the hackitectura crew focused on the organisation of=
=20
a decentralised No Border Media Lab, composed by a network of nodes=20
situated on both shores of the strait. The highlight of the media lab=20
consisted in the wi-fi link between Tarifa's castle and Tangier=B4s Marshan=
=2E=20
The media lab was conceived like a generating device of a brilliant=20
geography, a deterritorializing cyborg of the frontier connecting the=20
other components of transactions/fada'=EDat, including the following=20
projects:

* Digital Archive of artistic practices related to the Straits of=20
Gibraltar. http://transacciones.wewearbuildings.cc

* Critical cartography of the geopolitics of the Straits of Gibraltar,=20
(also known as the Madiaq territory).=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D481

* Freedom of knowledge / freedom of movement encounter between collectives=
=20
from both shores. http://fadaiat.net

* Zemos98 tv- Transactions: A two day tv-broadcast on Tarifa's local=20
channel.


Direct actions of disobedience against the border regime took also place:=
=20
A blockade of a Civil Guard bus with migrant detainees that had just=20
arrived to Tarifa's beach, and a demonstration outside the Foreigner=20
Confinement Centre in Algeciras, that culminated with the liberation of=20
two groups of Subsaharian migrants who would have otherwise been illegally=
=20
deported.

Fada'=EDat media lab was thought out as an experiment in the construction o=
f=20
the connected multitude - based on heterogeneous and turbulent horizontal=
=20
networks, collective intellect, cooperation with out command -.=20
Participantes included a diverse array of people linked to indymedia=20
estrecho, canarias and barcelona, psand.net, global telesat, riereta.net,=
=20
offtv, straddle3.net, artefacte, onnirik, xicnet.com, dregs, zemos98, casa=
=20
de iniciativas 1.5, casa de la paz, colectivo aljaima, fadaat,=20
hackandalus, elegant mob films, riereta the film, tarifa town council, bnv=
=20
productions, unia arte y pensamiento, hackitectura.net...


# Meeting table about Freedom of knowloge, freedom of communication.=20
Transactions / Fada'=EDat. Castle of San Guzman, Tarifa=20
http://www.hackitectura.net/osfavelados/txts/fadaiat_2004/encuentro_trabajo=
=2Ejpg

# Tangier. North Morocco groups and teachers meeting,ready to transmit the=
=20
other side.=20
http://www.hackitectura.net/osfavelados/txts/fadaiat_2004/medialab_tgr_dayt=
ime02.jpg



FRAMEWORK: FROM THE SOCIAL TO THE TECHNOLOGICAL, FROM CODE TO GEOGRAPHY

>From our personal perspective, fada'=EDat was a new attempt to implement a
logical mechanism based on the universal language of symbols, allowing, in=
=20
a few hours, the emergence of a spacial configuration emancipated from=20
techtonic elements: architecture as hardware for the development of=20
processes.

The departure from tectonics is part of what we consider the first phase=20
of "solidification" of other communication options beyond the already=20
corrupted nucleus of people/minds/happiness exchange that the network of=20
networks is becoming as built by the new economy. In a first instance, the=
=20
departure from tectonics is due to the need to work in the only=20
contemporary framework providing for solid tools of counter-hegemonic=20
action. It is just a new battle field.

In our work we try to subvert the scheme imposed by the infoeconomy in=20
which a swarm of machines, working minds and infocapital organised around=
=20
a myriad of micro-processes determines the stabilisation of a global state=
=20
of balance that strengthens hegemony and weakens communication.

This architecture has its principal pillar in the mental gap that can be=20
stolen from the system for the non-production of infocapital: the=20
generation of algorithms of free global communication. Its contribution=20
consists in its potential to create specific spaces of human communication=
=20
via the reconfiguration of the clouded plasma of data fluxes.

We consider that, for a few hours, in fada'=EDat we were able to deprogram=
=20
the system of automatisms which we usually react to the reality of=20
geography with. The flux of anonymous data generated by mediatic=20
cooperation achieved to feed a geographic algorithm, free code produced=20
and supported by multiple nodes that managed to fly over and across all=20
directions of Europe Southern border.


# Tarifa. Dave pointing grid antenna to Tangier. No GPS device was used _=
=20
22.06.04.=20
http://www.hackitectura.net/osfavelados/txts/fadaiat_2004/antena_conectando=
=2Ejpg

# Castle as virtual bridge transmissor.=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D333

# Media-lab Tangier. Daytime, fixing the link with Tarifa _ 22.06.04 /=20
i/d: Iv=E1n, Pablo, Abdul, Clara, Jaume, Javster.=20
http://www.hackitectura.net/osfavelados/txts/fadaiat_2004/medialab_tngr_day=
time.jpg



NEW GEOGRAPHIES PROTOTYPES AND NEW PUBLIC SPACES

The local nodes of fada'=EDat, nomadic, simultaneously and/or successively,=
=20
flowed between Tarifa (clusters at the Castle of Guzman el Bueno and at=20
the Beach of Lances) and Tangier (University Abdelamlek Esaadi and terrace=
=20
by the Marshan cliff - next to the Cafe Hafa, a mythical place for the=20
beatniks-).  Servers in Seville, the USA, Buenos Aires and London, and=20
comsat Astra 1H, - stationary over the 19,2E meridian some 33,000 km away=
=20
from Earth, -, connected the system to the Net.  The combination of cyborg=
=20
nodes - hardware, software, wetware- and flows of information constituted=
=20
a fluid and reterritorializing geography that united both borders to each=
=20
other, and with web surfers all over the world.

The result was a rhizomatic constellation of places, temporalities,=20
spatialities and modalities of presence difficult to think with the=20
epistemologic tools of architecture, urbanism or geography as we have=20
understood them until the end of the XXth century..  Another life is=20
desired;  other concepts are needed to think it...

The media-architecture devices: satellite antenna, wi-fi link across the=20
Straits, movable units... worked like a luminous mirror - reverse=20
engineering of the SIVE - the Surveillance System of the Straits=20
(http://www.guardiacivil.org/prensa/actividades/sive03/index.jsp) -; a=20
machine of the multitude conceived to unite and to construct, to defy and=
=20
to possibly replace the imperial apparatus designed to control and to=20
separate.

Components that were installed:

> Intercontinental wi-fi connection (802.11) between the node in Tarifa
(castle) and the node in Tangier (Marshan). The link was in operation, in=
=20
an experimental mode, Tuesday june 22 in the evening and at night, periods=
=20
during which we were able to send and to receive streams of audio/v=EDdeo.=
=20
Technical details of the connection can be seen in=20
http://www.flakey.info/tarifa and slashdot. The connection was possible=20
thanks to collective and the selforganized collaboration of manifold=20
analogical and digital, technological and political, individuals and=20
organizations of both borders, converging in the desire to question the=20
differences, and to disobey the separation, that the borders impose.

> Bidirectional satellite connection to the Internet from the castle of
Tarifa (june22) and from the beach of Los Lances (23 day/night of San=20
Juan). Managed by psand.net.

> Wireless LAN throughout the castle.

> Videoconference between Tarifa (castle) and Tangier
(University/ENSA)/june 23, in collaboration with college students of the=20
Escole National de Sciences Appliqu=E9s and people of the social movements=
=20
of North Africa. Software: Gnome-meeting.

> Connection with Parc Central, Barcelona, a left lot recovered as a
park by the neighbors in spite of the opposition by the City Council. The=
=20
initiative is part of the citizens campaign against Forum 2004. The=20
Bonfire of San Juan was celebrated there at the night fo the 23rd; the=20
plan was to give voice to the Assembly of Immigrants of the city. In their=
=20
fights the "people without papers" had occupied the Cathedral and two=20
churches the days before. Insufficient satellite downlink in Tarifa to=20
load the 80kbps stream, prevented the videoconnection between Barcelona=20
and the Straits. See http://parccentralpark.net.

> Live Streams (audio/v=EDdeo) of the event in the castle of Tarifa /june
22 and 23 (both in mov and ffmpg formats). The workshops, round tables and=
=20
other activities that took place in Tarifa were continously relayed.=20
Simultaneously to the webcasting, transmissions were received from other=20
geolocations: Tenerife, Tangiers and Seville. The main stream was produced=
=20
in ffmpeg format, using an ffserver server and vlc as client for=20
reception.

> Use of free software for the management of the local network, servers
and real time multimedia applications - emphasizing the use of ogg/theora=
=20
for video encoding the transactions digital archive and the use of ffmpeg=
=20
for video stream-. Sessions of audio/video with PD-PDP-PIDIP, projected=20
locally and streamed to the Net / june 22 at the castle & june 23 at the=20
beach. Pure Data is a graphic programming enviroment susceptible to be=20
used for distributed live multimedia productions, that several groups at=20
fadaiat - dregs, artefacte, xicnet, riereta.net, hackitectura - are=20
applying to the development of gollum/al-jwarizmi. See=20
http://al-jwarizmi.sourceforge.net

# Space of live flows cartography.=20
http://transacciones.wewearbuildings.cc/usermedia/image/8/large/plano3.jpg

# Ping statics screenshot.=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D403



A CONSTITUENT FESTIVAL: MYTHS OF A NEAR FUTURE

Transacciones/Fada'=EDat, eventually, was a foundational festival, in the=
=20
anthropological and original sense of the term; festival as a form of=20
knowledge, a form of producing new subjectivity, imaginaries, worlds. It=20
was like a rite presenting the new myths of origin of the multitude in the=
=20
Straits of Gibraltar; - which is, indeed, a place that is not isolated=20
from the world, but a central node in the global fight between Empire and=
=20
the multitude...

# Hassane y Duet, Media-lab Tangier, nightime.=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D284

# Tekknoborder beduins. http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D334



20XX, WHAT=B4S NEXT

After the attainment of the civil thelematic bridge connecting the=20
northern and southern sides of the border (and its symbolic meaning in the=
=20
prevailing warmongering logic of the clash of civilizations), several=20
action lines will continue exploring this territory, constructing new=20
relations between communication, mobility, organization and work:

* Intercultural Border Lab "Observatory of the Straits"; a project=20
presented to the award contest of the Castle of Santa Catalina (promoted=20
by the Tarifa City Council), that would allow us to install the wi-fi link=
=20
as a permanent infrastructure.

* Final realese of the biopolitic cartography of The Straits.

* Mutation of madiaq indymedia towards a post-textual system: locative=20
interface + live streams open administration system.=20
http://gollum.artefacte.org.

* Collaborative support in the organization of new indymedia nodes in=20
Tangiers and Larache, Morocco.

* Participation in the organizing team of Hackandalus, the 5th Spanish=20
hackmeeting that will be taking place in Seville - October, 28-29-30th=20
2004.

* Comission from the DASH-meetings coordination team (against racism and=20
the xenophobia) to organize the next DASH European workshop in Spain, to=20
take place in the spring of the 2005. Proposed topic: Internet live=20
multimedia production networks.

* Critical contribution to the executive meeting of the UNO's World Summit=
=20
on the Information Society, to take place in Tunis in november 2005.

* Research on the deployment of d.i.y. computers - aluminium boxes, solar=
=20
visors, photovoltaic cells -, in Southern Europe and Africa - a hardware=20
project lead by Josep Salda=F1a / context.

* Development of the concept "Fada'=EDat" as an epistemologic tool to=20
upgrade our understanding of geography, operating at the convergence of=20
the physical and digital space;  but also in the Islam/"Western" breach.


# Orbital map of the Observatory of the Strait.=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D332

# Media-architecture of the Observatory of the Strait.=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/show_image.php?id=3D402



hackitectura.net

Creative Commons licensed



NOTES:

1. Abstract of this text specialy written for Acoustic Space Magazine=20
special issue of on Trans-Cultural Mapping, RIXC Centre for New Media=20
Culture. http://rixc.lv/04

2. all picture credits at:=20
http://mcs.hackitectura.net/tiki-editpage.php?page=3Dtxt_AcousticSpace


salam pax

p


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