The Solar Protocol Network, sunshine-dependent internet

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In 1997, pioneer net.artist Olia Lialina made “Agatha Appears”, where two protagonists discuss internet teleportation, whose dialogues, exploiting html, can be read only with a mouseover. At some point she says “but I’ll come here again”. Clicking on her we might notice that the very same data is re-loaded each time from a different server. Net.art made a cohort of artists and critics very aware of the internet’s structure. In the same spirit “The Solar Protocol Network” by Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson and Benedetta Piantella, is a website hosted on a network of solar-powered servers, sent to the user from wherever has “the most sunshine”. The energy level affects the content (images at a lower resolution, for example), down to being offline. Brilliantly, the project implements the most sustainable web structure, creating a fully scalable conceptual work.

 

“Solar Protocol: Reimagining The Internet Through Natural Logic” with Tega Brain and Benedetta Piantella, NYU Tandon