“Who cares if we have endless information, if we’re constantly connected, if we can’t deal with it? How can anything change if we don’t talk to each other, work together? Because really, the problem is no longer getting people to express themselves, but providing any [minuscule] gap of solitude in which they might eventually find something to say. So I made a log jammer.”

By Allison Burtch, at allisonburtch.net/log-jammer

Log Jammer uses radio wavelengths to reduce cellphone transmissions (phone calls in particular) and increase the meaningfulness of communication. Its container (a log) hides its open source hardware, allowing it to blend (antenna aside) with its intended environment. Like many minimalist projects, it draws on tropes of simple living, microtopia, infrastructural intervention, and life against the grid. Of note, Log Jammer is a speculative design and artist’s statement on technoculture. It is not intended for actual cellphone jamming. —J.S.