Julian Oliver Photo: Supplied
Now installed in central Berlin is a fully functional, open source cellphone tower that, in luminous hot pink, asking to be noticed. It’s the work of New Zealand artist, activist and ‘critical engineer’ Julian Oliver who returned to Upper Hutt when Covid-19 struck.
‘Pink Cell Tower’ accepts connections from any mobile phone, assigning them a new phone number and allowing them to text and call others connected to the network for free, entirely in private.
Considering engineering to be the most transformative language of our time, Oliver’s work is concerned with opening up communications technology, working against the surveillance of our lives. Oliver’s ingenious useable sculptural works explore both the liberation and threat technology provides, making visible what global private entities try to keep hidden.
