"Along with the Bedouin project, Bleecker is also working on a more artistic endeavor he calls Wi-Fi.ArtCache . As with Bedouin, ArtCache is a free floating 802.11 Wi-Fi node purposely disconnected from the public Internet.
"There are artistic experiments -- on-the-ground practical ways you can bring together proximity, technology and social interaction in productive ways," says Bleecker.
Instead of accessing the Internet, ArtCache consumers can only access the ArtCache network. Users then download to their Wi-Fi-enabled devices artist-created Macromedia Flash animations whose narratives, Bleecker says, "respond to social and location-based activity occurring within range of the Cache's 802.11 network."
Unlike Bedouin, however, ArtCache is stationary and requires users to move within range to access its files. To connect to it, you must be physically in the presence of the ArtCache installation. The range varies, but in general someone within roughly 30 feet could access the network. (The Bedouin has a tested range of roughly half a square city block.)
While the art is hard to conceptualize without actually seeing it, the two most important elements are that each piece is designed to dynamically respond to its environment, and that each piece has a limited number of copies, or times it can be downloaded.
"On the Web," explains Bleecker, "there's an infinite number of PDFs or images -- you can download them forever. Ours creates a sense of preciousness to digital media. There's a limited number; things can change. You can take out and put back a piece, or take it out and walk off -- but now that art is more precious because only a certain number are left."
Quoted from: Wi-Fi Planet
