WiFi Tapestry

WifiTapestry is a dynamic wall hanging that visualizes the wireless activity of a space. The tapestry visualizes the ever-changing "landscape" of radio frequencies around us. The invisible signals from cellphones, printers, and all kinds of smart devices leave an imprint as they try to negotiate available wireless channels. A controller listens to all traffic across 13 channels of the 2.4GHz WiFi spectrum. Whenever data is transmitted on a channel, the controller sends a current to an array of thermal elements embedded in the tapestry, converting data into heat and activating a thermochromic yarn woven into the tapestry. Like the Shroud of Turin, streams of data transmitted through a space appear as visual traces from an invisible dimension, gradually forming and dissolving.

Exhibited at Centre Pompidou, 2022