Piksel meets IoT

Piksel meets IoT, Internet of Things. an interdisciplinary initiative to explore creatively the technological transformation challenges applying to cultural and artistic arenas.

---

---

Piksel meets IoT. The project

Piksel wants to integrate IoT to improve facilities for artists and collaborators, expanding the possibilities of our space at Studio 207 to host multicultural events and cross-artistic productions.

We want to investigate possible solutions to work with intelligent light, adaptative space, improvements about the working space, acoustics, openness and shareable of the space to artists and collaborators, security, privacy in the use of the common areas and sustainable and clean energy. The solutions must apply free/libre technologies and DIY (Do It Yourself) construction methods.

To define the project, we will use an experimental and multi-disciplinary approach gathering a research group of artists, technologists, architects, performers, cultural actors, curators and managers. The project is based on team debates, workshops, prototyping, academic reflections, situationist exploratory performances, dynamic behavioural group exercises, and we want to explore how IoT can be applied using free technologies into the specific field of artistic arenas in a wide sense; sound, theatre, audiovisual performances, performing arts, exhibition, meeting place, rehearsals, … The results will be presented in team and public meetings, ending the program with an exhibition and presentation. The final architect project will collect the best practices apprehended.

The research group includes Piksel and Borealis as initiators, collaborators from BAS (Bergen Architecture School), Raumlabor, a creative architect office from Berlin and Kari.us, a critical artists collective, experts on IoT implementations. The team will work in Bergen.

Piksel is focusing on the Free/Libre and Open Source movement as a strategy for regaining artistic control of the technology. It will be a condition in this project to use only free/libre technologies, software and hardware.

This initiative aims to serve as a “model” to other cultural arenas. An unique case study on how to implement the new technological challenges in cultural and artistic spaces with the most up to date and sustainable technological tools whilst having a critical approach. We aim to open the final prototypes and findings to to other artistic and cultural arenas, academia, architects and public professionals. We want to help consolidate the role and value of artistic experimentation and technological freedom both as creative tools and exchangeable knowledge generator.

An initiative like this can help to make society more aware, responsible and participative in such challenges, and at the same time signal best practices to implement the new technological challenges. Piksel is focusing on the Free/Libre and Open Source movement as a strategy for regaining artistic control of the technology, but also a means to bring attention to the close connections between art, politics, technology and economy.

Results will also be available to the art world and public through online documentation, a wiki will be implemented, students projects and prototypes construction steps will also be published, exploring methods and activities results, a resources repository with links will be also available online.

Areas/subjects to explore

   1. The facilities to artists. Working space/storage. 
   2. The exhibition space for artists shows. Intelligent light.
   3. The exhibition space for artists shows. Adaptative space.
   4. The acoustics. Acoustic concerts and neighbourhood.
   5. The openness and shareable of the space to artists and collaborators. Security, privacy and improvements of the common areas.
   6. The energy sustainability. Solar panels and vertical garden. Heat and windows.

Schedule

March 2020

• 18th - Mind map - Storage room
  • To do: To find a free/ libre mind map software and to share
  • Include it in the wiki under the digital tools
  • To think inn questions to moderate the meeting and achieve the goals. Goals of the meeting.
  • Maite: To do a list fo requeriments for the storage room, bio lab, textile lab, ...

• 20th Friday - Revision with some modeling and ideas.
• 24th - Midterm Proposal for the storage space
  • How the lockers are going to work

June 2020

• 4th - meeting Maite&Gisle, Andreas to discuss needed steps to plan testing week and a workshop week (scheduled for either week39 (Sep 21-27), week40 (Sep 28-Oct 4) or week41 (Oct 5-11)
  • To do till end of June:
    • (DONE) contact Alvar and Tina for contacts to electricians
    • who else should participate in the workshop? (electricians, programmers)
    • plan IoT implementation, options NodeRed or Openhab, others?
    • decide on workshop week and plan workshop week
      • organise equipment for workshop week

Sep 2020

• Workshop outline:
  • Dates: either week 38, week39 (Sep 21-27), week40 (Sep 28-Oct 4)

• Hardware:
  • • Raspi: v2 or better, power, ethernet
    • Lights:
      • Philips Hue: https://www.openhab.org/addons/bindings/hue/ , NOTE: The Hue bridge is required as a "bridge" for accessing any other Hue device.
        • Bridge: https://www.lightup.no/products/philips-hue-bridge
        • Lamps: https://www.lightup.no/collections/vendors?q=Philips%20Hue
      • IKEA Trådfri: https://www.openhab.org/addons/bindings/tradfri/ , NOTE: The TRÅDFRI controller and sensor devices currently cannot be observed right away because they are communicating directly with the bulbs or lamps without routing their commands through the gateway. This makes it nearly impossible to trigger events for pressed buttons. We only can access some static data like the present status or battery level.
        • IKEA: https://www.ikea.com/no/no/p/tradfri-gatewaysett-varmhvit-til-kaldhvit-60406870/
        • Color light
    • Locks z-wave binding:
      • Z-wave hubs
      • SHMK10000 Magnetic Door lock Contact
      • DWZWAVE25 Z-Wave Door/Window Sensor
      • FGK101 Door Opening Sensor

• • Software:
    • Setup Raspi 2 (+ power, ethernet) or better for Openhab: https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/rasppi.html

• • Workshop week Outline:
    • Monday: OPENHAB-Rasperbby Pi
      • Setup Raspi 2: https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/rasppi.html
      • Setup tutorial: https://www.openhab.org/docs/tutorial/1sttimesetup.html
    • Tuesday: LIGHTS: Experiment with selected lights
    • Wednesday: LOCKS: Experiment with selected locks
    • Thursday: APP
      • Openhab for Android in F-Droid Store: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.vier_bier.habpanelviewer/
    • Friday: Documentation & Troubleshoot

Online/Digital Tools to work/communicate

To do professional remote lectures: OBS, Open Broadcaster Software - https://obsproject.com/ Streaming video to different platforms (Youtube, others) where the lecturer can integrate slides, documents, webpages, different cameras, webcam, ... High performance real time video/audio capturing and mixing. Create scenes made up of multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, capture cards and more.

---

To video chat, students meeting with the professor, it can also be streamed and recorded if needed for farther consultation. Jitsi Meet - https://jitsi.org/ Multi-platform, open-source video conferencing Share your desktop, presentations, and more Invite users to a conference via a simple, custom URL Edit documents together using Etherpad Pick fun meeting URLs for every meeting Trade messages and emojis while you video conference, with integrated chat.

---

To do a digital/physical exhibition to show the students work and make a proper opening with people: We are thinking on something similar to Second Life, we have not found yet an open/free platform, but I am sure we will find one.

Possible tools:

- Duck-themed multi-user virtual spaces in WebVR. Built with A-Frame. https://hubs.mozilla.com

---

Showing architectural projects online, there are some environments on WEBGL very interesting to explore too: three.js - https://threejs.org/

---

Texting, Telegram chat

---

3D-scan of office space, Display.land

General IoT infrastructure/protocols research

Open source graphical programming enviroments:

• NETLab Toolkit: http://www.netlabtoolkit.org/
• NodeRed: https://nodered.org/
• Openhabs: https://www.openhab.org/

Output 1: The Storage room

The facilities to artists. Working space/storage.

The Piksel storage room will become a working space, a permanent workshop to do wood and electronic development with tools and other machinery to use.

In the storage room, a shelving must be built where you have the option of locking in equipment. The locks should also be connected to the IoT and if someone, for example, is to borrow some equipment, it should be possible to give access to the room and a given cabinet for a given period of time. The shelves should be built with a simple DIY principle and should be made relatively easy. In the storage room, it must also be taken into account that a server must be established to run the Piksel cloud.

1st meeting - 18/03/2020

https://pad.riseup.net/p/PikselmeetsIoT

Goals: To define the requirements and ideas the team can have

- Security: **type of security, doors, lockers, barcodes, is it possible? is it practical? will it be comfortable or add a lot of work? will be obsolete soon?

- How should the app work? (examples of questions you should think about):

• • to give permission from the app to a specific area in the storage room, each area has a name, should it be by item?
  • should we have a BARCODE reader to check the item before leaving the space and to check it back when it is returned? should we include the "lock" on each door?
  • through an app, doors to be open, close, in a pre-determinated time?

- Who should be able to borrow tools from the storage-room?

- What will be the most common uses of the storage-room?

- How should tools be organized? Create different categories. Which tools can be collected together, which ones absolutely not?

Brief of requeriments

List of tools at the storage room:

• • Electronic tools and components: chips, arduinos, raspberri ps, modules, sensors
  • Audio + video: projectors + cameras, audio/video cables + audio equipment, mixer tables
  • Bio lab: kitchen lab things + some space to keep liquids and other sensitive material
  • TV's and monitors: many, different sizes
  • Posters/catalogs
  • Paintint tools: a box
  • Textile: t-shorts
  • The disaster box: electronic trash
  • Light and electricity: bulbs, screen lamps, flexos, ...
  • Wood and electrical tools: drills, hammer, ...

Tech research

Barcodes at each article?

Lockers systems?

Output 2: Lightning

The exhibition space for artists shows. Intelligent light.

One point of upgrading the room is that the room should reflect who Piksel and Borealis are and what we are doing. One of the goals is the intensive use of the main central area hosting exhibitions, performances, workshops and meetings. The room should encourage creativity, exploration and testing things.

Light should also be able to adapt to the activity needs. i.e. at the performances, stage areas must be lighted, at exhibition light needs to be focusing the works distributed in the room. Intelligent light is recommended to meet the specifications.

Output 3: Central adaptative space

The exhibition space for artists shows.

One point of upgrading the room is that the room should reflect who Piksel and Borealis are and what we are doing. One of the goals is the intensive use of the main central area hosting exhibitions, performances, workshops and meetings. The room should encourage creativity, exploration and testing things.

We pursuit to create an independent central space, to separate it from Piksel office by opening a new door to the street and a sliding door to the space. To make the central space adaptive, we want to create 2 different areas that can join according to the activities: i.e. during exhibitions, the area must be one big zone, otherwise we need to have a private -out of sight- to accommodate people to eat or just relax.