Immaculate Telegraphy

Could humans at any point in history, given the right information, construct an electronic communication network? To test this hypothesis, Substitute Materials is attempting to build a functional electric battery and telegraph switch from materials found in the wilderness, using no modern tools except information from the internet. The telegraph will be a first step towards an ahistorical internet.

Seesion 2, focusing on raising the temperature of copper ores to their melting point, is currently underway

This project has received the Eyebeam Honorary Residency.

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The results of a five hour firing loaded with roasted chalcopyrite ore. Nothing. For now, we remain stuck in the neolithic: able to process wood, stone, plant fiber and leather, start and maintain charcoal fire, locate metal ores, but unable to separate them from their compounds. Not hot enough? Not reducing enough? For this first session, I’ve fallen short of the miraculous, but I’ll be back to the furnace in October. I’m sure persistence is what ensured that these things happened in the first place.

Posted Thursday, June 25th, at 11:51 PM (∞).

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