The Weight of Information
Satellite, public events, software, radio, Low Earth Orbit, 04.12.12 — 14.05.14
The Weight of Information is an orbital artwork based on a pico-satellite originally launched on April 19th 2014, and scheduled for re-launch in 2017.
A 2cm x 2cm low-cost autonomous satellite is launched into low earth orbit. The satellite is placed on a decaying orbit and slowly spirals back to Earth. During the orbit the satellite fills its memory with data from its on board accelermoter and magenetometer sensors. The data is immediately deleted and meta data about the quantity of information deleted is transmitted back to ground stations on Earth. The Weight of Information Satellite (TWOi) exists in a universe where gravitation is caused by information, and it wants to escape its spiral trajectory back to Earth. It attempts to climb to a higher orbit by deleting information, to ascend by forgetting. On Earth a series of events called Meet to Delete are staged where people gather to delete their personal information, burning or shredding paper work and clearing data storage in order to and help the satellite by making the world a little lighter.
The project has been manifested as a series of events and exhibitions and one orbital attempt in 2014 as part of Zachary Manchester’s Kicksat project on ISS resuply mission CRS-3. After a successful launch and separation orbit the satellite failed to achieve autonomous flight. The orbital attempt is documented in the gallery exhibition Meet to Delete Ground Station
A second launch and event series is scheduled for 2017 including a public ground station installation in Civic Square in Wellington.
Events
TWOi Ground Station
Time 17:00
Location -41.301732, 174.775629
The Engine Room, East End Block 1, Massey University 63 Wallace Street, Entrance C
Contact http://julianpriest.org/the-weight-of-information-ground-station
TWOI at Energies in the Arts
Time 11:00
Location -33.8839, 151.2203
EG02 Lecture Theatre, UNSW Art & Design, Greens Rd, Paddington
Contact http://www.mca.com.au/events/energies-arts-conference/11406/
TWOI at Arduino Day 2015
Time 13:00
Location -41.295335, 174.775610
Media Lab, School of Design, 139 Vivian St, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand
Contact http://arduinod15.hotglue.me/
Re-entry
Time 01:30 UTC
Location 19.029252, 4.254573
Meet to Delete: Prescott
Time 14:30 (UTC -7)
Location 34.570187, -112.466652
1610 Satellite Court, Prescott, Arizona, USA
Meet to Delete: Pixelache
Time 17:00 EEST (UTC +2)
Location 60.186982,24.974123
Kaasutehtaankatu 1/21 (Rakennus/Building 7), Suvilahti 00540 Helsinki, Finland
Contact http://pixelache.ac
Meet to Delete: Ptarmigan
Time 21:00 EET (UTC +2)
Location 59.447889, 24.748500
Kalarand, Kalamaja, Tallinn
Contact tallinn at ptarmigan.ee
Receive & Recycle
Location 47.330497,18.993368
Szigethalom, 2315, Hungary
Contact hg5apz at gmail.com t.janos
Meet to Delete: Whanganui
Time 16:30 NZST
Location -39.885093, 175.067864
247 Roberts Avenue, Whangnaui, 4500, New Zealand
Meet to Delete: Up Galerie
Time 17:00 CEST (UTC +1)
Location 50.826997, 4.344791
Up Galerie, 17 avenue Pauel Dejaer, 1060 Bruxelles, Belgium
Contact info@galerie-up.com
Launch Screening
Time 07:00 NZST (UTC+12)
Location 39°55′59″S 175°02′57″E
The Ward Observatory, St Hill St, Whanganui, New Zealand
Launch Attempt Screening: Ward Observatory
Time 08:00 AM NZST (UTC+12)
Location 39°55′59″S 175°02′57″E
Ward Observatory, St. Hill St, Wanganui, New Zealand
Launch
Time 4:08 (EDT)
Location 28.56221,-80.57734
Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla, USA
Meet to Delete: Test Pilot
Time 18:00 NZST
Location -41.311788, 174.767472
37 Fortunatus Street, Wellington, New Zealand
Contact sophie at loomio dot org
Pre-Launch Talk
Time 20:30 NZDT (UTC +13)
Location 39°55′59″S 175°02′57″E
Ward Observatory, St. Hill St, Wanganui, New Zealand
TWOi at Media Art Histories Renew
Time 11:15 CEST
Location 56.959290, 24.107543
Room 311, Stockholm School of Economics, Strelnieku street 4a, Riga Latvia
TWOi at Wireless Summit 2013
Time 13:30 (CEST) 14:30
Location 52.512963, 13.420671
C-Base, Rungestraße 20 10179 Berlin-Mitte, Germany
TWOi at Ada Symposium 2013: Space:Network:Memory
C3 Church, 22 Vogel Street, Dunedin
TWOi at Currents 2013: “New Media: Arts & Sciences”
Time 14:00 16:00
Location 35.673884, -105.938201
Santa Fe CCA – Cinemateque Studio, Santa Fe, NM, USA
TWOi at ISAW4
NASA Research Park, Mountain View, CA, USA
Credits
- Zachary Manchester
- Jason Quinn
- Mike Paulin
- Andrew Hornblow
- Richard Lowenberg
- Ian Ground
- Christian Pointer
- Poul Fuxjaeger
- Mike Newmann
- Whanganui Astronomical Society
- Whanganui District Council
- Mini-Kits
- Annick Bureaud
- Creative New Zealand
- Brit Bunkley
The project development was kindly supported by Creative New Zealand.
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