Pivilion

[pivilion]

Pivilion Quantifications - a research into decentralised [digital] art distribution

It's been a while. 2018 was quite busy and we've been working on other projects. Pivilion is still going strong with continuous support form Akademie Schloss Solitude, where the project was started as part of the Schlosspost Web Residency, and where we currently reside IRL as part of the 2018-2019 Web Based Media fellowship at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.

Over the year we've made some changes and bugfixes on the Pivilion Gitlab site and are planning to do a major overhaul of the gallery system very soon.

About the research

We're collaborating with 16 (and counting) international artists who we've supplied with Raspberry Pis, and helped install their own Pivilion systems. It's up to them to setup their own work on those systems and distribute it through their channels, offer to sell it, give it away or trade it - and in the process communicate with us what they would expect from such a system. It's our goal to give digital artists an insight into the functioning of the [free / libre] server ecosystem, and to enable them to use open systems and protocols rather then services to distribute their work. In the end of this stage (which should happen by the end of 2019) we would have some comprehensive insight on the feasibility of such a system.

In the meantime, and very soon, we will present our collaborators' work and their views on the subject on Schlosspost. So hang on tight because more content is coming. :)

Why

It's only natural to ask why such an insane system, running on pocket PCs with less power then current flagship smartphones and on top of a really slow network like Tor is necessary. With so many free [as in beer, not speech] options available to host and distribute work online, why would one go through the trouble of setting everything up and end up with a slow server that's hard to access..? There are several reasons.

1) Knowledge [distribution] is important - our aim isn't to provide a silver bullet solution to current and future problems of the dystopian internet - but to enable discourse and share knowledge

2) Decentralization - a purely technical reason - the option of "piggybacking" onto [public] WiFi for hosting that the Pis and Tor provide in tandem is essential for ultimate decentralization, "squatting" current infrastructure without leaving a trace

3) Software freedom - both Tor and Raspbian [Pi's operating system] - are free software, enabling distribution of any modifications that come to life as part of this project / research Hope this makes it more clear what we’re up to, expect more soon, back to making an overhaul of the generator

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free_art_-_4RCH1V35

Oh wow, it’s been almost a year since an update... Guess we’ve been busy on different projects - but more Pivilion stuff is on the way - we’ll be visiting Akademie Schloss Solitude (where this project was first conceived) next year and doing a Pivilion-based research in collaboration with multiple international artists. Right now we’re doing some art on the darknet (because that’s what we do here :)), as part of The Wrong — New Digital Art Biennale, collaborating (again) with lots of wonderful artists from around the world, and all of it hosted on Pivilions. :)  Be sure to check it out!

“free_art_-_4RCH1V35" is a distributed IRL/URL/darknet pavilion/embassy @The Wrong — New Digital Art Biennale [http://thewrong.org/], present athttp://pivilionumi6b3kg.onion/ Nov 1st 2017 – Jan 31st 2018 /&/ self-hosted in the physical form of an exhibition @ Gallery Siva, Nov 3rd – Nov 10th 2017. ◘ Nov 3rd 2017, 21:00CET — “free_art_-_archives” exhibition opening, Gallery Siva (Pierottijeva 11, Zg / Cro) ◘ Nov 5th 2017, 16:00CET — Pivilion workshop (Gallery Siva) ◘ Nov 10th 2017, 21:00CET — Expo finissage & open call to join the distributed “4RCH1V35” pavilion (Gallery Siva & online)

Info on the artists and the pavilion: 

http://formatc.hr/4RCH1V35 Central pavilion (clearnet) preview: http://pivilionumi6b3kg.onion.link/

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Pivilion: ~ co-op ~ [pivilion launch + call for participation]

Pivilion is ready to launch! We finally feel like the project is ready. To celebrate, “Pivilion: ~ co-op~” is joining the selection of "25th Slavonian Biennale, Borders of visibility" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek (Cro)! The “~ co-op ~” exhibition is the first official expo following the initial release of the project and requires telepresent artists to collaborate in realtime. Artists can upload their work via Tor directly to a Pivilion box placed in the Museum and get it screened on a wall mounted display.

To co-operate as a co-author, follow the simple instructions here; upload your digital visual art; get it displayed on a screen as part of the Biennial; share the #pivilion_coop info; translate this open call.

The expo opens Dec 8th 2016, at 19:00 [CET] and lasts till end of February 2017. At the same time, Pivilion will launch officially on our Gitlab! We invite you to setup your own Pivilions, clone, fork, collaborate, complain and / or ask questions! Stay tuned and have fun! ^^

Museum of Fine Arts working hours [CET]: Tue, Wed, Fri 10-18 / Thu 10-20 / Weekends 10-13 / Closed during holidays. (Please keep in mind that the Pivilion box in the Museum may be shut down outside working hours.)

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How to install Tor with Apache as a hidden service on a Raspberry Pi

Download Raspbian image

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

You can use either the full or the lite image, it's up to you.

Rpi installing images

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/README.md

Choose your system. We'll be using Linux + dd

Once that's done, login to your pi using SSH with username: pi password: raspberry

Next install LAMP (Linux Apache, Mysql, and PHP).

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/web-server/apache.md

We don’t really need Mysql at this point, but it comes in handy. :) 

Install PHP (we need it to run the gallery)

sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

Next, we install Tor. Tor will route our existing Apache service over the Tor network.

sudo apt-get install tor

Once Tor is installed, we need to configure it use our Apache.

To become root either use sudo in front of every command to execute that command as root or use sudo -s to become root permanently.

We will edit the files using Nano editor. It has commands listed on the bottom. Ctrl + O is used to output the edited file.

The tor configuration file is located in the /etc/tor subdirectory. The /etc directory holds configuration files for all (most) Linux software.  

sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

Using the arrow keys or pagedown navigate to the part for setting up hidden services

############### This section is just for location-hidden services ###

"#" marks a commented line - Tor will skip this line when reading the configuration. Tu uncomment a line, simply delete the "#" Uncomment the lines  

#HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/hidden_service/

This line specifies the location of the hidden service directory on you system. The default setting is OK.

#HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:80

This line specifies the port of the service we want routed through Tor. In our case, this is port 80, the default port for webservers. This can be changed in the Apache configuration file. Be sure to change this to mimic Apache's port configuration.

Use Ctrl + o to write out what we edited. Don't rename the file. Hit enter to confirm. Use Ctrl + x to exit Nano.

Now restart Tor using

sudo service tor restart

Tor has now generated an onion domain for your hidden service. You can check the domain by issuing

sudo cat /var/lib/tor/hidden_service/hostname

If you altered the HiddenServiceDir in the config file, use that.

You can now test your new onion domain by starting Tor browser and navigating to it. :) 

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[pivilion]

Curated by Julia Eckert, Judith Engel, Paula Kohlmann | Project space Römerstrasse 2A, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart | 02. April 2016 19:00 - 23:00

Glad to be participating with our collaborative work : Pivilion test run#2 : ~ interpretations ~ telehosted concept test; a performative P2P processual demonstration.

< pivilionumi6b3kg.onion >

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Shallot [CPU] / Scallion [GPU] custom .onion hashing

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Test run - p!R4T3_P0R/\/0_/\/\4T3R14L

We're doing a test run tomorrow (March 18th) morning - from ~07:30 ~ 11:50 (GMT +1) from a bus driving from Osijek to Zagreb.

The 10 pieces in this test run mobile exhibition are by Domenico Barra, a (Dirty) New Media Artist based in Napoli (Italy) working with digital media with a major focus on internet culture. http://patreon.com/dombarra /// http://it.linkedin.com/in/dombarra from his project p!R4T3_P0R/\/0_/\/\4T3R1L.

These are NSFW so be careful while viewing them. The test run exhibition will be open from ~ 07:30 ~ 11:50 in a bus driving from Osijek to Zagreb.

To access it just download Tor browser  and navigate to 

pivilionumi6b3kg.onion (NSFW) The exhibition may or may not be open after the bus arrives to it's destination but you can check out Dom’s stuff anytime at  DISCLAIMER The online exhibition contains material which maybe be not suitable for children and adolescents. NSFW!!!

http://piratepornomaterial.tumblr.com/ http://piratepornomaterial2nd.tumblr.com/ http://redlinkdistrict.tumblr.com/ https://vimeo.com/152015906 https://giphy.com/gifs/7bp5aIujKNHIQ

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Idea framework

Pivilion emerged as an extremely logical collab project at a time of extended telepresence opportunity in a time of scarcity in the cultural sector. (In order to show in a "regular” way, you would need to register, submit and upload your values to the hierarchical nature of the art/net systems and adapt to the existing Terms of use and the paradigms of classical POW.) While doing our first net themed collab research (powered by net.cube & G-MK) we articulated a (common) necessity to broaden the limits of our indicated art-void into a factual collaborative non-institutional (self-initiated and ideologically coherent) environment.

As we could notice the standardization of the online social spaces reflect the rigid institutional hierarchy; well structured but often overregulated and change reluctant - our goal was to enable initiators/initiatives to create own art spaces as truly rhizomatic focal points of freedom of speech and freedom of access to digital or digitalised cultural objects. Main guidelines for our work were: building an uncensored network ensuring freedom of artistic intention hosting own data (digital or digitalized artwork) & security through community filtering de-centralization of content (shifting away focus from responses to content reception and articulation) reversing misconceptions forged around Tor & illegality of anonimity propagating cautiosness & cleverness (tech skillfulness also) empowering individuals in community areas previously unknown to them (darknet) supporting independent guerilla RL community events (like squatting any wifi w/ an expo) Apart from the above goals oriented towards art-users, Pivilion aims to support the community of independent creators - artists, curators and cultural managers and their own methodologies of displaying ephemeral collections that may be fringe, nsfw, either mainstream or generaly unacceptable, or basically outside any known paradigm. We hope for Pivilion to help art reflect the nature of ideas and accept the nature of the new media; fluid, free, variable and in the long run constructive in all of it's (down or up)sides. D.

[pivilion]

Tech background

This time I’ll talk a bit about the technology behind Pivilion.

Let’s start with the Raspberry Pi.

As the website says, “The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.”

We won’t be using it for any of that, though exploration and education are part of what we’re trying to achieve. We’re using it primarily because of it’s low cost and availability. The Model A+ costs $20, the Model B+ costs $25, the Pi 2 costs $35, the Pi 3 costs $35, and the Pi Zero costs $5, plus local taxes and shipping/handling fees. Pivilion will be able to run on any of these machines.

The Raspberry Pi runs Raspbian, which is a version of Debian GNU/Linux designed specifically for the Rpi. It’s a free and open source operating system that does everything a computer can do and can be freely modified without limitation.  Raspbian will be running Apache on the Pi. Apache is an open source web server that is widely used across the Internet  On top of that it will be routing all traffic through Tor . Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. We’ll get more into explaining how Tor works and how to install in on the Pi later, for now we need to know that we’ll be using a Tor hidden service which has an onion domain like this one lcktmmydgmycyc6c.onion. That domain works just like your regular .com or .net domains, only you need to be on Tor to access it. This is easy with the versatile and out-of-the box Tor browser, which is based on Firefox.  lcktmmydgmycyc6c.onion is the Tor hidden service domain of a web art project by Dina Karadžić that’s hosted on a RPi right now. Feel free to try and access it.  The way this will work in the real world is that the actual end user - curator - won’t really need to know any of the tech behind it - Pivilion will be downloadable as an SD card image and the user can just plug it into their RPi, power it on, setup the content and that’s all there is to it - but the whole process will be heavily documented on the website for anyone to improve and customize to fit their own needs.  A Pivilion usage scenario

Required hardware - Raspberry Pi - SD card - USB WiFi dongle - battery pack / mini USB charger 

Required software - the customized Raspbian Pivilion image Requred material - some digital art Once all this is setup all that’s needed is a WiFi hotspot you can connect to. This gives us the option of piggy-backing or squatting publicly available internet and turning it into a gallery host. This is where Tor and the deep web, or darknet come into play. What it does is enable us to host the hidden service behind most firewalls, it circumvents any ISP blocks and hosts our site privately, yet visible to the public. We already thought of a bunch of cool projects we could do with this, feel free to share your ideas with us and drop us a line on [email protected]  V.

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Screencaps from the first four days of the residency. :) 

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A bit of background in plain English

A bit of background in plain English

Why would one need a small battery-powered device that can host image galleries from any place in the world with an available WiFi Internet connection?

The idea came to life during Dina’s residency in net.cube at G-MK in Zagreb. She had her own web project (aaaand we’re back up!) that required hosting on a local network during a presentation.The Raspberry Pi seemed ideal for the project. We wanted to make the project accessible from the Internet and for that we needed to circumvent closed incoming ports that disallowed us from running services from inside the gallery. Tor hidden services pretty much do that out-of-the box. The rest seemed logical - I powered up one of hacklab01’s RPis and first made it a web server. Then installed Tor and set it up - the whole thing just worked and the setup didn’t take up much time at all.

That got us thinking - this could come in handy - one could host a website from their pocket - completely anonymously - from their school, favorite bar or from a bank queue - all they would need is a RPi device, a battery and an USB wifi dongle. But why stop there - why just host a plain website when you can create a darknet gallery system…

The whole concept started to come together - why not teach people how to build their own devices and host their own little pocket galleries. And pack it up nicely so that it’s simple to setup and not so difficult to customize. Mozilla’s together.js fit right into the story - as we wanted to recreate the gallery / exhibition experience, not just content presentation - there’s plenty of that around available online already - but the whole experience of visiting a place, moving around it with other people, talking to them (or ignoring them), etc…

The project stared gathering dust on an SD card on a shelve and that’s when we saw the First Schlosspost Web Residency open call. What could be more on the topic of art decentralization then a bunch of nomadic galleries hosted on pocket devices around the world on a network that’s anonymous and runs on worldwide network of community-hosted nodes?

[pivilion]

Hello world

Hello world. We’re alive and kicking! Setting up together.js in t-10 mins. This is the Pivilion web residency blog. Pivilion is a decentralized darknet pocket gallery that runs on a Raspberry Pi device. Find out more about it by reading the read me in the menu above.   You can talk to us using together.js from Mozilla on the right.  More soon. :)