Offline Gallery, 2018-ongoing
Open-source Platform
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OFFLINE GALLERY
The Offline Gallery is a portable platform featuring browser-based art projects. It is composed of a Raspberry Pi, a USB antenna and a battery pack. Therefore the Offline Gallery can be installed (or hided) literally anywhere. Guests can connect to the site-specific artworks within the perimeter of the box using their own mobile devices (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.).
The Offline Gallery deregulates the notions of a classic gallery space and art market stakeholders. This project is a reminder that art is about experiencing together and not about collecting commodities.
LONG DESCRIPTION
The Offline Gallery is a portable platform featuring network-based digital art projects. This virtual gallery space is specifically designed to promote the works of artists that find their space in the intersection of the digital medium and the site-specific installation.
Formal Description
The Offline Gallery is composed of a Raspberry Pi, a USB antenna and a battery pack. Therefore it can be installed (or hided) literally anywhere (forest, public and private buildings, urban and natural environments, over or underwater, etc.). The portability and autonomy of this gallery space allows it to be installed in spaces that are usually not suited (or even allowed) for the promotion of the arts – thought they are usually the source of inspiration for the artist. Finally the motive and the voice of the artist can meet in the same space! The artist and his audience can meet safely and express themselves freely in the “virtual” digital space. Art in public spaces can sometime lead to discussion; on the other hand, Offline Gallery is non-invasive, allowing the people sharing that same physical space but not involved in the event to continue with their lives without even noticing it.
Technical Description
The Offline Gallery offers an open network. The audience connected to this network will automatically receive a pop-up window in their mobile device, such as the captive portal window on public hotspots. The artwork, located inside the box is only with the audience around its perimeter. No App download or registration required, the interaction of the audience with the artwork is completely anonymous, leaves no trace, and no data is collected.
The collective experience results in a more phenomenological and less disembodied approach to the work of art. Physically putting the audience in the context of the artwork, this project confront the prejudices against digital artworks as promoters of alienating and disembodied experiences. Offline gallery offers the possibility to merge the source of inspiration in the ‘real’, and the artwork of the featured artist in the ‘virtual’.
Values / Context
This space uses offline network strategies, and therefore aligning with the notions of privacy rights, freedom of speech, as well as open source values. Offline networks are intimate spaces to share information and opinion in a completely safe and even anonymous way if required. Thus why not to use them as art platforms too?
In addition, the Offline Gallery deregulates the notions of a classic gallery space and art market stakeholders in the process of promoting and showing artistic production. This project is a reminder that art is about experiencing together and not about collecting commodities.
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