Deterritorialized Living is an artificial troposphere that reverses our causal relationship to the natural rhythms of day and night, air, seasons, time. It is a “man made” environment where the atmosphere is the effect, continuously shaped from the global activities on the networks produced by humans and robots.
Following its designed rules, this milieu develops strange behaviors: daylight is always “on” but at variable strengths, nighttime never occurs, air composition regularly reaches “physiological enhancement” levels of high altitude, it is composed of a unique single day that goes back and forth and that ideally last forever. There are no months and no years.
Deterritorialized Living is delivered in the form of open data feeds which define this “geo-engineered” yet livable environment, computed by the deterritorialized.org server.
The artificial troposphere is freely available to architects, artists, designers, scientists and makers of all kinds in the form of different “services”: Deterritorialized Air (N2, O2, CO2, Ar), Deterritorialized Daylight (visible light Intensity, IR, UV) and Deterritorialized Time (HH:MM:SS). Additional feeds and refined rules will be added along the time to mature this generated atmosphere.
These algorithmically designed data feeds can be used independently or combined to drive experimental devices, interfaces, software and speculative livable environments of all kinds, under the responsibility of their authors.
Deterritorialized Living is a project by fabric | ch.
Since the apparition of electric lighting in the late 19th century, air conditioning, increasing mobility of persons and goods, the sometimes use of bio-chemicals but more importantly, since the public spread of the Internet in the mid ’90s, we have witnessed the emergence of an almost “geo-engineered” and continuous milieu that triggers an experience of delocalization / detemporalization.
The later development of ubiquitous wireless communication, peer to peer exchanges, social networks and algorithmic or mediated environments of all kinds have even increased this feeling. Amplified to the point that we could now speak of “ambient deterritorialization” that is always around, always “on”.
A continuous day seems now to exist through continents, in between places, in between time zones: a “networked” day that neither really starts nor truly stops, but goes back and forth. It is experienced continuously by more and more people on the globe, becoming paradoxically contextual.
Commenting and developing this contemporary situation, the project Deterritorialized Living is an attempt to materialize this emerging “geo-engineered” environment in the form of a data generated, yet livable atmosphere (troposphere) composed of artificial air, daylight and time. It is literally a “man made” atmosphere in the sense that it depends on the intensity of the permanent flows and activities of humans and their robots on the networks. When the information will become available for public uses, we plan to add other live flows to calculate and refine this climate (flying airplanes, transportation of goods and people, overall energy consumption, etc.)
Conceived by fabric | ch, https://www.deterritorialized.org hosts this “computed atmosphere” that is delivered in the form of algorithmically architectured data feeds based on the interpretation of real data (global hits per second). It is composed by a set of open web services and libraries that were developed in the context of a residency on the Tsinghua University campus in Beijing between spring and summer of 2013 (at the Tsinghua Art & Sciences Media Laboratory).
These open-source, “ambient deterritorialization” data feeds and environments in the form of Deterritorialized Air (N2, O2, CO2, Ar), Deterritorialized Daylight (Visible, IR, UV) and Deterritorialized Time (HH:MM:SS) can be freely requested through this platform. Following the link “Access to the open data feeds”, designers, artists, scientists, makers and fixers of all kinds can retrieve the material to drive experimental devices, interfaces, software and speculative livable environments.
Lausanne & Beijing, September 06, 2013.
Deterritorialized Air is composed of the four main elements that we breathe: Nitrogen (N2 ppm), Oxygen (O2 ppm), Argon (Ar ppm) and Carbon dioxide (CO2 ppm). These feeds can be requested individually or in group.
In its formerly natural composition in the troposphere and for approximately 10’000 years, the composition of air was almost stable. Only the quantity of oxygen we breathed could vary depending on the altitude (due to pressure: 100% at sea level down to 47.5% at 5500m, which is considered to be the limit of permanent livable settlements), triggering physiological enhancements in the body production of red cells that transport oxygen. Since the industrial era and mainly due to human activities, CO2 level also varied considerably. It is higher nearby big cities, major transport routes and old industrial areas but mainly, it increased from approximately 280 ppm just before the industrial revolution, to 380 ppm in the first decade of the 21st century and is projected to reach 550 ppm by 2050 (middle projection). In high concentration, CO2 can cause headaches, nauseas and an acceleration of breathing.
We compute the data feeds of Deterritorialized Air based on these values, using the following rules: Nitrogen and Argon barely vary (micro-variations). O2 level varies depending directly on the overall network activity, moderated by the actual locations of the multiple sources of these activities (note: a lower level of population in the “actual locations” triggers a decrease in the deterritorialized level of O2, which then correspond to a potential higher, less inhabitable altitude). CO2 level also varies depending on the overall activity, moderated by the actual locations of these activities (the more CO2 the actual locations emit implies an increase in the deterritorialized level of CO2).
Deterritorialized Daylight is composed of Visible Light (lm), Infrared (watt) and Ultraviolet (watt). Each feed can be requested individually.
Our historical causal relation to natural cycles of day and night, for several physiological, emotional and potential activities reasons, was that humans got active mostly when there was light, their specific occupations being by extension mappable to different intensities in lighting. During nighttime, humans were rather asleep and inactive.
Deterritorialized Daylight tries to reverse this historical relation: it is the global activities on the networks by humans and robots that will trigger the intensity of the artificial daylight. Therefore and as this activity is permanent on the networks, but at different intensities, the artificial daylight will always be “on”, varying between different values (dusk, dawn, sunny day, cloudy day, etc.). Nighttime will never occur.
We compute the data feeds of Deterritorialized Daylight based on the observed average values for a sunny day in direct sun (120’000 lm), for a cloudy day (12’000 lm) and for twilight (800 lm), using the following rules: Visible light is directly dependent on the intensity of the activity on the networks. Yet, during a sunny day, direct sun will not be related to the maximum activity on the networks (as less people are active when the sun is too hot). Infrared and ultraviolet follow directly the intensity of the visible light, moderated by some sort of “haziness” which will be computed from networks latency.
Deterritorialized Time is composed of a standard digital clock in Hours (HH), Minutes (MM) and Seconds (SS). The feed can be accessed in block.
The length of a “deterritorialized day” lasts at the maximum for 12 hours and 04 minutes, from 07:02 to 19:06, to which must be added 30 min. for dusk as well as 30 min. for dawn to reach a full daylight length of 13 hours and 04 minutes. It is the average length of a day at the equator in a random city of reference.
We compute the data feed of Deterritorialized Time based on the above average day length, using the following rules: there is only one day in our “geo-engineered atmosphere” that cannot start nor end, due to the main algorithmic rules behind the project. There are therefore no months and no years. The time constantly varies and goes back and forth between its limit points (dusk, dawn), between morning, noon and afternoon, depending of the intensity of activity and the “weight” of each “slice” (Americas, Europe-Africa, Asia-Australia). A clock keeps the tracks of these movements; a real duration of approximately 36 hours is needed to collect all the network activities from around the globe. Therefore, these 36 hours are always mapped onto 13 hours and 04 minutes.