The Transparency Grenade

Julian Oliver

New Zealand, 2012
Resin, metal electronic device, a video screen and operational trigger mechanism

Lack of corporate and governmental transparency is an ongoing topic of controversy, yet our only tool for encouraging greater openness is the slow, tedious process of policy reform.

The Transparency Grenade is an iconic cure for these frustrations. Presented in the form of a Soviet F1 hand grenade, it makes the process of leaking information from closed meetings as easy as pulling a pin.

Equipped with a tiny computer, microphone and powerful wireless antenna, the Transparency Grenade captures network traffic and audio and securely and anonymously streams it to a dedicated server, where the data can be processed. Extracts from this data – including fragments of emails, HTML pages, images and voice recordings – are then displayed online on a publicly accessible map at the location of the detonation.

Whether you are a trusted employee, civil servant or concerned citizen, greater openness was never so close at hand.

This artwork is part of the Espace multimedia Gantner collection – Conseil Départemental du Territoire de Belfort

JULIAN OLIVER

― Artist

Julian Oliver is a New Zealander, Critical Engineer and artist based in Berlin. His work and lectures have been presented at many museums, galleries, international electronic-art events and conferences, including the Tate Modern, Transmediale, the Chaos Computer Congress, Ars Electronica, FILE and the Japan Media Arts Festival. Julian has received several awards, most notably the distinguished Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica 2011 for the project Newstweek (with Daniil Vasiliev).

Event