Nomination
Solar Protocol is a planetary-scale network of solar-powered servers, installed and maintained by volunteers around the world. The servers collectively host the Solar Protocol web platform at http://solarprotocol.net/, serving it from whichever server is in the most sunshine and therefore generating the most energy, at the time. Decisions about how network traffic is routed and where the computational work of generating and sending out the site is done, are automated according to a solar logic derived from season, time of day and weather conditions across the planet. By making an algorithmic system that uses sunlight instead of machine learning to automate decisions, the project provokes new ways of thinking about intelligence and automation.
Exhibition view at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Photo: Tobias Wootton
Server installation with Caddie Brain. Photo: Brendan Phelan
Graham Wilfred Jnr assembling a server in Alice Springs, Australia. Photo: Caddie Brain
Solar Protocol also explores what a low carbon internet infrastructure and web design could look like. It provides solar-powered web hosting for the project’s community and functions as a kind of planetary-scale, virtual artist-run space. The Solar Protocol site shares educational resources on solar computing and hosts an online exhibition space where the Sun Thinking exhibition is currently on view.
Credits
The Solar Protocol Collective is led by Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson, and Benedetta Piantella and includes. Project contributors and stewards: Anne Pasek , Caddie Brain, Brendan Phelan, John Samoza, Camilo Rodriguez Beltran, Daniel Ñuñez, Alejandro Rebolledo, Graham Wilfred Jnr, Tim Chatwin, Bridgit Chappell, Baoyang Chen, Denzel J. Wamburu, Cyrus K, Chris Stone, Jesse Li, Zoë Horsten, Jarl Schulp, Crystal Chen and Jonathan Dahan.
With support from: Eyebeam Rapid Response for a Better Digital Future program, Code for Science & Society’s Digital Infrastructure Incubator, and a Mozilla Creative Media Award.
Biographies
Tega Brain (AU) is an Australian born artist and environmental engineer exploring issues of ecology, data, automation, and infrastructure.
Alex Nathanson is a designer, technologist, artist, and educator whose work is primarily focused on exploring both the experimental and practical applications of sustainable energy technologies, particularly photovoltaic solar power.
Benedetta Piantella is a designer turned educator and humanitarian technologist and has been involved in international development projects for the past twenty years.