For the inaugural podcast session of ‘Octopus’, Sam Hopkins and Hans Bernhard discuss the often invisible infrastructural networks of our contemporary world. The cables, the railways, the roads, the freeports, the free-trade zones and the export-processing zones (EPZ) that trace an often indiscernible architecture of power.

Using Extrastatecraft, the illuminating text by Keller Easterling, as a launchpad, our discussion roams from the idiosyncratic marketplaces being exploited in the slums of Nairobi to the mesmerising physicality of the cable networks that snake around the globe. We tentatively conclude that the only thing that knows the system is the system itself.

Links:
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2163-extrastatecraft
https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass
https://redlines.network

Octopus S1E1: 

‘Octopus’ is a podcast about individuals in a networked world and their relationships and affiliations with fast evolving networked organisms. Our speculations circle around the interaction between mind and matter and the merger of sensations and the material world. 

The Octopus Podcast invite guests from art, academia, science and fringe areas to discuss contemporary issues in the fields of technology, art, society, science and politics. It would find out where areas of exchange and communication between individuals, collectives and new organisms can be found and ask: How we can imagine and describe such otherworldly phenomena.
We seek to invent new perspectives and languages to describe the evolutionary processes unfolding in real-time before our very own eyes and sensors.

‘Octopus’ is a Black Mirror Institute production, created and moderated by Sam Hopkins, Liz Haas aka lizvlx and Hans Bernhard and recorded at KHM, the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. 

You can find ‘Octopus’ on your favorite podcast platform; 
A video version can be watched on Youtube. 

http://blackmirror.institute/octopus

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Discussion Day 1 of the Symposium TIMES OF HANDS – GAMIFICATION VS PLAY with Cynthia Chepkemoi, Nestor Siré, Steffen Köhn, Sam Hopkins and Hans Bernhard.

Octopus / GvP  8 

A talk with Nestor Siré, Steffen Köhn and Sam Hopkins, followed by a video essay by Nestor Siré and Steffen Köhn about the (lack of) internet in Cuba and the offline sharing alternative to it: El Paquete Semanal, a country-wide offline data sharing network. With online access heavily restricted, Cuba has one of the lowest inter#net penetration rates in the world. Yet, Cuban citizens have found a way to distribute all kinds of media content in the form of El Paquete Semanal, a one terabyte collection of data that is compiled by a network of people with various forms of privileged internet access and then circulated nationwide on USB sticks and external hard drives via an elaborate network of deliverymen. In this presentation we want to describe how El Paquete has come to constitute a nested media ecosystem that facili#tates the publication of independent local media content such as video games or pdf magazines, hosts several digital marketplaces, and offers an otherwise non-existing space for advertisement.
 
NESTOR SIRÉ (b. 1988) lives and works between Havana and Camagüey, Cuba. Siré’s artistic practice intervenes directly in specific contexts in order to analyze social and cultural phenomena. His artistic methodology consists in expanding social structures so as to find more effective ways through which art can intervene in the complex relationships between official and informal networks. His works have been shown in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Havana), Queens Museum (New York), Rhizome (New York), New Museum (New York), Hong-Gah Museum (Taipei), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City), and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santa Fe (Argentina), among other places.
 
STEFFEN KÖHN (b. 1980) lives and works in Berlin. He is a filmmaker, anthropologist and video artist who uses ethnography to understand contemporary sociotechnical landscapes. For his video and installation works he engages in local collaborations with artists, software developers and science fiction writers to explore viable alternatives to current distributions of technological access and arrangements of power. His works have been shown at the Academy of the Arts Berlin, Kunsthaus Graz, Vienna Art Week, Hong Gah Museum Taipei, Lulea Biennial and the ethnographic museums of Copenhagen and Dresden. His films have been screened at the Berlinale, Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Word Film Festival Montreal, among others.

Octopus / GvP  7 

Sam Hopkins summarizing the last presentations followed by a presentation with Cynthia Chepkemoi about infrastructural problems in slums in Nairobi and what kinds of alternative models emerge of this, like sharing content offline via bluetooth and other methods, and for what purposes the people use the internet. With the progress and application of Information Technology (IT), Networking and Internet access has been gaining world’s attention. It is relatively a growing phenomenon whose value has proven beyond doubts, though its’ application is majorly in developed countries and cities. Slums and Rural areas have been neglected and less has been done on its applications and they lack these services so they seek alternatives means. This paper attempts to analyse how people in slums and rural areas network,use mobile phones, share content offline and their  identity. The research seek to identify which alternative devices they use to network and share content  offline.

CYNTHIA CHEPKEMOI regards herself as an archivist interested in the particular complexities of personal experience. She works in qualitative and quantitative research for both academic projects and market research companies. Her works employ research and surveys to understand Kenya at the margins, beyond the staple subjects. She has been involved with reports on various topics, including by ipsos on teenage pregnancies, medical insurance accessibility to Kenyans, the views of shareholders in KCB Bank research, the plight of sex workers in Salgaa in Nakuru County and agribusiness in Kericho County. She has a background in logistics and supply chain management and six year’s experience working in procurement in Nairobi.

Octopus / GvP 6 

Discussion Day 1 of the Symposium TIMES OF HANDS – GAMIFICATION VS PLAY with Bethuel Muthee, Oscar Peña, Sam Hopkins and Hans Bernhard

Octopus / GvP 5 

Oscar Peña and Hand Bernhard talking about gig economy and how to do it in a good way, protecting workers rights and about ethical issues in terms of gamification in the gig economy, for example customers reviewing workers. OSCAR PEÑA creates technology that enhances businesses and solves social challenges. Peña is currently leading the technology of HOGARU.com, a tech-enabled cleaning company with 600+ employees. He is happy to connect with anyone who is tackling social challenges and thinks that technology could give them an edge.

Oscar will share his experience building Hogaru.com, an on-demand cleaning service in Colombia. From the perspective of the customer Hogaru is very convenient; you book a service when you need it, pay it through the internet and when the date comes you receive a professional cleaning service. In this way it is very similar to other gig economy companies. However from the perspective of the cleaner Hogaru took a very different approach; their cleaners are full time employees with all their benefits. Oscar believes that it is the job of the technology to provide convenience to customers while at the same time ensure stability to the cleaners. Hogaru thinks it is important that companies make sure all their stakeholders are doing well, and think technology and innovation can help to achieve this.

Octopus S1E1:

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