This is an online mirror of the St. Louis smolnet, which was a decentralized, artist-run, computer network in St. Louis, MO which went up in the summer of 2023. When participants traveled to node locations, they could connect to a wireless network which served media over the local area network. These nodes were not connected to the world wide web, or "internet," but instead only shared their content within a 100 foot radius. Each node hosted a different piece of site-specific artwork. The smolnet, made using Raspberry Pis and open source software, was made to facilitate and host the sharing of creative practice using a flexible, inexpensive, DIY infrastructure.
Is that safe?
I'd say yes. No digital communications system of any kind is completely impervious to misuse. However, the smolnet was probably safer than any other networked computing that participants had recently connected to. Ultimately, the smolnet just hosted webpages. On these pages users weren't asked to submit any sensitive data, interact with other users, or run any code outside of the browser---all things that the "normal" internet regularly requires. Additionally, the smolnet didn't make use of cookies, data collection, or advertising. For these reasons, the smolnet is a pretty safe space compared to the World Wide Web.
Who made this?
This project was made by Eden Attar and her friends Amethist Rain, Raven Fox, Caro Asercion, Max Raden, and Raphael Palefsky-Smith, whose artwork you can find on this site. Additional and essential support was provided by Sage Voorhees, Isaac Bromley-Dulfano, and all of our lovely bike friends.
This project was made with support from The Luminary with funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
This is weird. Why did you do this?
I was dissatisfied with the internet and the way that it feels the same no matter where you are geographically---like walking into a TJMaxx. Whether you are logging on to twitter from Los Angeles or somewhere in Maine, the experience is going to be largely the same. The internet is a real, physical infrastructure of wires and machines, probably totalling in the hundreds of millions of tons, but it has been built in such a way which makes it feel more immaterial than it actually is.
What if, on the contrary, we built a computer network of small machines that highlight their physical location and geographical specificity?
Is it still live?
Maintaining a network like this takes a lot of regular care, which can be hard to sustain, so some of the nodes are, unfortunately, out of service. If you'd like to adopt a node, please contact me! (email is below). To visit the smolnet in person, I recommend that you begin at the very-well-maintained node which lives in the Central West End farm at 5057 Waterman Boulevard.
This is neat, can I build one of these for myself? Can I add to the network?
I'm glad you asked. We made a handy-dandy guide just for you! PDF If you want to add a node to the network, there is nobody stopping you. In fact there is at least one person encouraging you to!
If you have any questions, or just want to reach out, shoot me a message at stlsmolnet@gmail.com
