I spent the last weekend in Riga at the 10th Art+Communication festival titled SPECTROPIA. The title hints at artistic investigations of electromagnetic spectrum. Mari and I were invited to present the Pimp My Passport do-it-yourself workshop, which could be described as a civic action to reclaim electomagnetic privacy in the age of RFID and biometric passports. The initial concept was introduced on this blog in April 2008.

In addition to the exhibition, the accompanying conference was very inspiring and overwhelmingly dense. So dense that it was impossible to give every presentation the concentration they deserved. But if you too want to dig into this I've compiled featured projects on my delicious under tag spectropia.

As for Riga, I also stumbled upon a limerick which I'd like to quote to end this

There was a young lady of Riga
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
   They returned from the ride
   With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.

Source

Sent in a proposal for Art+Communication festival in Riga in October. This year's festival is about "artistic explorations within the invisible space of electromagnetic spectrum surrounding us" so I think an examination of RFID and passports could fit in nicely.

Here's a description:

Pimp My Passport

The project examines DIY and hacking prospects as well as control and privacy issues of RFID passports currently being rolled out throughout the European Union. It also plays around with the notion of nationality and its symbols - seeking new ways to signal identity by "pimping" personal travel documents.

Although dealing with heavy subject matter like electronic privacy, big brother and nationality, Pimp My Passport is a playful, hands-on project that anyone can take part of.

For Art+Communication festival we'd like to propose a 1-2 day workshop with following structure:

1. Probing sessions using RFID transceiver to read passports remotely
2. Crafting of protective "Faraday cage" passport covers
3. Pimping sessions e.g. working on re-interpretations of national symbols used on passports and other decorations

I've already talked about this to some of you long time ago, but now that I wrote that much down I might as well blog it and see how the forest answers!

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Some related links:

• DIY transparent laptop case (airport security)
• Pimp My Bible
• RFID Passport Shield Failure Demo
• SERIALL workshop in Antwerpen and Gent
• SimplySwiss: The Swiss Passport

Kahlasin samalla hieman vanhoja sähköposteja läpi, kun annoin Gmailin ottaa haltuun nykyään vähemmän käyttämiäni postilaatikoita. Arkistoista löytyi vanhan kunnon "piimäscreenin" resepti. Piimällä voi maalata loistavan tee-se-itse taustaprojisiopinnan ikkunaan tai muuten vaan lasipinnalle. Vaasankadulla oli pitkään sellainen, Amfibio-visuaaliryhmän vahvoina vuosina.

Näin se käy:

Ostat piimää tai maustamatonta jogurttia. Hommaat maalaustelan. Laitat lattialle sanomalehtiä. Kastat telan jogurttiin ja vetelet. Kuivuu 2-3 tuntia. Peset pois.

Käsittääkseni Petri Lievonen on lainaamani tekstinpätkän takana.

English summary: This was about using buttermilk or yoghurt to paint a DIY rear-projection surface on window glass. If you've tried it with another country's groceries, please let me know how it worked.

It was about a year ago I crafted that laptop sleeve above from bubble wrap and gaffer, but somehow it wasn't until today I added it to Thinglink, "an open database where makers can register their work for free and create labels for their products".

More photos on Flickr under tag Thing:043XNE, and yes, a link to the thing itself.

Update 17 May 2007

Uh-oh, something happened at Thinglink right after the day I posted this entry. It was right as rain but now my piece is gone and the user account as well. The current front page features only established design like Artek, Marimekko and Paola Suhonen. Was bubble wrap too much for them? Well, it seems they´re updating the service. Better just wait.