Bring Your e-Waste, Build Your Secure Storage with Whisper + Nat Decker (Secret Server Club)
What does it mean to store data collectively, on hardware you own, in a space you share? This workshop invites participants to bring their old PCs, external hard drives, and discarded devices and put them back to work as nodes in an experimental distributed storage network built together in the room. Participants will learn the basics of NAS (Network Attached Storage) building and distributed server architecture, working hands-on with e-waste as the raw material for a shared digital commons. A website that only exists when your computer is on. A server whose deployment is a public act. Storage that decays, depends, and requires tending.
There is no prior knowledge required, we will cover the basics. We suggest at least bringing a device or notebook if you want to take notes.
There is also no requirement to bring e-waste, but we suggest bringing devices such as:
Old office mini-PCs
Retired laptops
Aging gaming PCs
Rasberry Pis
Or extra hard drives (HDD or SSD) we can attach to these computers
Come liberate your own device, help us assemble a few servers from components we’ve gathered, contribute to a project wiki, or just observe and witness – all forms of participation are welcome.
We will be demonstrating software and practices like
Flashing bootable Linux USBs
Virtual private networking with Tailscale (for securely accessing local data)
Distributed file storage with Garage (an open source tool for resilient storage on recycled hardware)
Open Media Vault (an open-source network attached storage (NAS) operating system based on Debian Linux)
Capacity: 20
Cost: Sliding Scale $25-40
Whisper is an artist based in Los Angeles, working across poetry, performance, software, and hardware. She dreams of computing that feels like augmented presence, cultivated through generations of loving care. Lately, her work has been almost entirely collaborative, with her partner Hal as Resonant.love, and with her friends in Secret Server Club.
Nat Decker is a Los Angeles-based artist working across digital media, sculpture, and performance. Disability is the lens through which they explore embodiment, virtuality, alienation, access, and liberatory networks. Their practice critically engages technology as both assistive and oppressive. Presently they are experimenting with autonomous internet infrastructure, a/v feedback loops, and 3D computer graphics. Nat is a 2026 United States Artists Fellow, LACE Lightning Fund grantee (with Secret Server Club), 2025 Supercollider SciArt Ambassador Fellow, 2024 Eyebeam Democracy Machine Fellow (with Cripping_CG), Y10 member of NEW INC, 2024 Processing Foundation Mentor and 2023 Fellow, 2024 Coaxial resident, 2024 fellow at the Decentralized web camp, 2023 resident at Latitude Chicago, 2023 Leonardo CripTech Metaverse Lab Fellow, and 2021 resident and current staff of ACRE Residency. They have exhibited work and delivered talks internationally.