Our friends Rob, Barbara & Anton performed Cyphersongs @ Piksel15:

CipherSongs: Trustless is the second in a series of performance and installation works reflecting on issues surrounding encrypted network communication technologies. It is a data driven, audio visual installation/performance which responds to real-time data from the Bitmessage service. Bitmessage is a decentralised, peer-to-peer, trustless communications protocol. The service became particularly popular after the 2013 Snowden revelations exposing the widespread collection and analysis of communications metadata. These works respond to the threat to our “right to a private life” posed by the planned amendments in the UK to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill (aka The Snoopers Charter). This amendment seeks to criminalise the use of encrypted communications in the UK. In this context, CipherSongs functions as the ‘canary in the coal mine’, an early warning system where the disappearance of song indicates a dangerous problem within the system.

This performance is a dialogue between the on-stage performers and the streams of encrypted network data. The data is picked up by performers and improvised into the physical performance space as well as streamed via the TOR hidden service. Alongside the data driven sonic improvisations are woven textual interpretations of both factual and fictional encrypted content.

Rob Canning (Laptop), Antonios Galanopoulos (Laptop), Barbara Kukovec (Voice/Electronics).