convex tv.
«German Schwarzsender»

Before wire-bound and wireless telegraphy came under the central control of the Deutsche Reichspost, amateur radio was a genuinely decentralized form of communication. The Net radio collective convex tv., which came into existence in late 1996, developed a pirate broadcaster – the ‘German Schwarzsender' – which took its cue from the pioneering work of the early radio amateurs. On the basis of a series of low-range transmitters and operating from 27 Aug. to 1 Sept. 1997 during the collective's visit to the ‘documenta X' show in Kassel, convex tv. created a self-organizing network of some 200 radio transmitters and receivers. The motto for this network was, ‘everyone can broadcast whenever they want'. Since in recent times the rise of the Internet has lent fresh relevance to the issue of decentralized networks, convex tv. is determined to ‘secure a place for radio in the debate'.