The work of GPSter uses the coordinates provided by the GPS (Global Positioning Service) network to link data to physical locations in space, which can then be discovered through the use of portable, wireless-enabled devices.
The "Songlines" work takes its inspiration from Australian aboriginal tribes, who chant a melody in time with their step while travelling which provides a cognitive map of their terrain created by their ancestors. During the Impakt Festival of 2003, the 21th century wanderers of GPSter's songlines used portable wireless devices to follow hundreds of midair messages which are geographically encoded to various locations around the Centraal Museum. For online visitors to the project, GPSter created an interactive map which allowed users to upload their own sounds, images and texts.
Impakt acknowledges the gracious support of De Waag Society for technical support in realizing this project.
The "Out of the Box" theme seeks to examine how technology and the Internet manifest themselves on the human level by asking such questions as; where do such on-line concepts as navigation, avatar, or algorithm find their place in the "real world" outside the computer? And, similarly, where can such physical activities as performance, protest, or love maintain their "real-ness" in a virtual environment? In short, we seek the point where real-life affects the Internet, and (more importantly) where the internet affects real-life.
'Out of the Box' was conceived by Derek Holzer for Impakt Online.
Marc D. Tuters (Canada) has bachelor's degree in Cinema and an MA Media Studies from Concordia in Montreal. He has worked in a variety of capacities throughout the Canadian culture industries, often as a researcher. His work in locative media has been presented at institutions such as U.C. Berkeley and Harvard.
Karlis Otto Kalnins (Canada) has a degree in General Studies from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. He serves as the technical director for several web-based art and activist projects, specializing in text and image archives and video streaming. His websites have been featured on CBC, CNN and in Time Magazine.
http://www.gpster.net
