Edward Snowden WIFI

Unknown activists affixed a commemorative plaque onto the building at 16 Quai du Seujet in Geneva, where Edward Snowden once resided during his time working for the CIA. This act aimed to honor Snowden’s contributions to transparency and to highlight issues of surveillance, privacy, and the right to information. However, the plaque was swiftly removed, presumably by secret agents, underscoring the very themes of censorship and covert operations that the intervention sought to critique.

Undeterred by the removal, the artists Hervé Graumann and Gordan Savičić expanded the project into the digital realm. They installed a highly directed Wi-Fi hotspot on the rooftop of a former squat located directly across the river from the original site. This free Wi-Fi network, named “Edward Snowden WIFI,” became an invisible yet pervasive monument accessible to anyone within range. When users connected to this network, instead of gaining general internet access, they were redirected to a webpage displaying images of the commemorative plaque as it had been installed on the building.