Data as Culture - Art that uses data as a material

Open Space Observatory (OSO) is an initiative to promote gatherings and the development of open source infrastructure for observation of satellites, spacecraft, and space junk. Over the last 60 years, the magnitude of satellites’ use and governing power has increased exponentially. Today the sky is full of over 4000 ‘orbiting spy-eyes’, officiating on decisions of military armament, technological development, and territorial, commercial, and juridical zones. Through fostering the momentum of civic space initiatives, the future of satellites could be more evenly distributed. OSO looks toward building a network of sky gazers (at the intersection of subcultures and engineering) by installing infrastructure for space observation in public spaces, and re-purposing old observatory sites.

The OSO has installed a SatNOGS, an open networked satellite ground station, on the roof of FACT to project live feeds of satellite observation into the gallery. The ground station is built with accessible, affordable components under open hardware license.

Courtesy of the artist. Open Space Observatory is a new site-specific iteration for FACT.