critical infrastructure lab

August 31, 2025 at Noorderlicht Biennale, Akerkhof 12, 9711 JB Groningen

Organisers

• Christy Westhovens
• Noorderlicht photography biennale
• critical infrastructure lab
• Kunstpunt Groningen

We constantly move through a sea of radio signals. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cell towers and satellites form an invisible landscape that permeates our everyday lives. These electromagnetic waves shape how we communicate, move and live together — and yet, we never see them.

With Signals of you, her installation at the Tschumipavilion, Christy Westhovens makes this hidden network tangible. The red panels respond to Bluetooth signals emitted by our devices, revealing how we continuously broadcast digital traces. The pavilion becomes an archive of daily presence, showing how infrastructure and behaviour together shape urban space.

The Radioscape Symposium offers a deeper exploration of this work. Bringing together artists, scholars and critical voices, we will reflect on how radio signals construct public space. What role do we play in these digital environments? Who has access to these invisible layers, and who is excluded? And what does it mean to render such ubiquitous but hidden signals visible?

Programme

• 12:00—13:00 Visit: Noorderlicht Biënnale, Niemeyerfabriek, Paterswoldeweg 43, Groningen
• 13:30—14:30 Data walk and visit Signals of you, Het Tschumipaviljoen van Kunstpunt, Hereplein, Groningen
• 16:00—18:00 Symposium, Noorderlicht, Akerkhof 12, Groningen
  • Introduction by Christy Westhovens
  • Roundtable with artists, researchers and guests
  • Discussion with Q&A

A manifesto has been released in conjunction with the event.

Photos by Sebastiaan Rodenhuis.

This program is made possible through funding of Mondrian Foundation, Fonds 21, Stimuleringsfonds voor Creative Industrie.

Lineup

• Arthur Elsenaar >> Artist and teacher at ArtScience Interfaculty,
  Hogeschool der Kunsten Den Haag (KABK/KonCon)

• Christy Westhovens >> Artist and researcher, Technology, Performance and
  Society research unit, University of Music and Theatre Munich (HMTM)

• David Gauthier — moderator >> Artist and Assistant Professor of
  Computational Media and Arts, Utrecht University (UU)

• Gabriel Pereira >> Assistant Professor in AI & Digital Culture, University
  of Amsterdam (UvA)

• Juli Laczkó >> Artist and teacher at HKU Media, Image and Media
  Technology, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU)

• Maxigas >> Co-principal investigator, critical infrastructure lab;
  Assistant Professor of Computational Methods, Utrecht University (UU)

• Niels ten Oever >> Co-principal investigator, critical infrastructure lab;
  Assistant Professor, European Studies, University of Amsterdam (UvA)

• Pawan Seshadri Venkatesh >> CTO, UrbanVind

Photos by Sebastiaan Rodenhuis.