ALT COMMS: LoRa Radio and Mesh Networks

​Join us for the workshop led by Nat Decker as part of Rip Space’s first school – Really Radical Return 2 School. Through tech and education, it aims to encourage and organize solidarity energies for the future.

​​About the Workshop:

​Communication technologies are crucial for the organizing of care, resistance, and community connection. They are also hyper regulated, corporatized, centralized, surveilled, and extractive. This workshop explores alternative communication protocols and community generated mesh networks.

With an introductory lecture and hands-on demonstration, participants will learn about LoRa (Long Range) Radio devices instancing Meshtastic. Meshtastic is “An open source, off-grid, decentralized, mesh network built to run on affordable, low-power devices.” Utilizing an unregulated radio bandwidth, it allows for encrypted peer-to-peer messaging independent of cellular or broadband networks. This technology has potential as a tool of counter-surveillance, emergency preparedness, connectivity in absence of networks or during disruptions to networks, and is a fun way to learn more about communications technology and autonomous infrastructure.

Devices being demonstrated will include LoRa radios such as Heltec LoRa32, Lilygo T-Deck and SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E. You are not required to bring anything to this workshop. If you already have a LoRa radio, you are invited to bring it along. If you would like to purchase a radio prior to the workshop, options are outlined on the meshtastic website. Look for devices that operate on the 915 MHz frequency band for use in the USA. Your radio can be flashed with the Meshtastic firmware during the workshop. Bring a computer and USB-C cable if you want to try out the Meshtastic webflasher.

Time: 2-5pm
Experience level: Beginner to advanced
Technologies: LoRa Radios

​​​suggested donation $25-$40
* If cost is a barrier to participation, please feel free to reach out to vera@rip.space—we’re happy to accommodate *

​​​** space is limited **

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​Nat Decker is a Chicago-born Los Angeles-based artist using technology, sculpture, and performance to interrogate the politicality of the alienated body/mind networked within a call for collective care and liberation. They work critically with technology and explore materials as extensions of the body and anti-prosthetics. Their practice fundamentally integrates accessibility, collectivism, and friction as generative mediums. They have professionally consulted on accessibility for organizations including p5.js, UCLA, Creative Growth, and New Art City. Nat has exhibited work internationally - most recently in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York - and delivered artist talks at Tokyo Future Visions Summit, Dweb Camp, Rip Space, NEW INC DEMO2024, and Whitney ISP. Their collective, Cripping_CG, was awarded a 2024 Democracy Machine Fellowship. They are a Y10 and Y11 member of NEW INC, a 2024 mentor and 2023 Fellow at the Processing Foundation, a 2024 Coaxial resident, a 2024 fellow at the Decentralized web camp, and a 2021 resident and current staff of ACRE. In June 2022, they graduated from UCLA with a degree in Design|Media Arts and Disability Studies.

​​ABOUT RIP SPACE: Co-founded by John Threat and Vera Petukhova in January 2024, and run in collaboration with Maisa Imamović, Rip Space is a radical exploratory hacker / new media art x tech space with an ambitious programming schedule. We operate out of a loft space in DTLA featuring a large transparent configurable LED screen that is an invitation for artist experimentation and collaboration – along with a growing media library of new and retro tech. Rip Space is dedicated to showcasing new media, digital art, installations, performance, and experiential and  sensory work. The name RIP SPACE is a flip on WIP or work in process – RIP or riot in process is a space where process, ideation, and experimentation override product and finalization. Rip Space exhibitions and programs are created in collaboration and in process with artists. In addition to exhibiting artists' work, we also host artist talks, skill share workshops, community gatherings, screenings, symposiums and other discursive events. Rip Space operates under the fiscal sponsorship of Gray Area, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, allowing us to receive tax-deductible donations and grants through their nonprofit status.