A standard home router is hanging in a parasitical way right next to commercial mobile phone antennas from the Münster TV tower. Vistors are invited to connect to this router with their phones. The router serves no Internet connectino but offers a large database of PDF tutorials on ‘How to live an offline life’. A thermo generator sitting on a small camping stove next to the playground provides 12 volt electricity to power the router which is connected through a 70 meter long orange cable. While the Telekom maintains one of its threet large data centers right next to the TV tower the site specific installation 12V is totally independet from powerlines or Internet connection. User can download and also upload files. Their connection cannot be traced or monitored by 3rd parties on the Internet. In its retro appearance, as a building for long range TV broadcast before the Internet the tower becomes a historic sculpture in itself.
12V is one of three works which were commissioned and produced by Skulptur Projekte Münster. Each of these different site specific works incoporate thermo electric technology. Thermo generators convert heat from fire directly into electricity which then is used to power different state of the art electronic devices. Fire, which is in fact the first human technology serves as a power source and as catalyst for human communication.
Aram Bartholl, 2017
