2001 Collective
The Human Network
A free workshop on how computer networks work. You act one out with paper, your body and your own phone. You don't need to know anything about computers.
Sunday 15 November 2026
3:30pm to 6:00pm
- Hangar1, 8 Emmanuel Street, Maryland, Lagos
- Free. 25 places, first come first seated
- Doors open at 3:15pm. We start at 3:30pm sharp, and the doors close at 3:50pm, because the opening game needs everyone
- Bring nothing but a phone
The calendar file reminds you the day before and two hours before. Sunday traffic to Maryland can be slow, so leave early.
If all 25 places are taken when you arrive, you can watch from the edge of the floor and join the part on phones.
What happens
- Find your messageEveryone writes a one-letter message, the slips are shuffled, and you race to find yours. Then we do it again with one small change, and time both.
- Become the networkYou pass paper messages from person to person across the room. Some get lost, someone drops out, and we find out what keeps messages moving.
- Look at the real oneOn your own phone, see how it shows up on the internet and how long a reply takes from cities around the world.
- Write your nameWrite your name in the script you know best and count what it costs a computer to store it. Some scripts cost more than others, and we look at why.
The real words for what you did come at the end of each part, once you've done it.
Who it's for
Makers, artists, students and anyone curious about how messages get from one phone to another. It runs for two and a half hours.
We take photos during the workshop. Tell us at the door if you'd rather not be in them.
- Led by
- 2001 Collective
- Hosted by
- Hangar1
- Publicity partner
- Goethe-Institut Nigeria
In the room
Network Check
For the part on phones. Find out how your phone shows up on the internet, then time how long a reply takes from places around the world.
1. Your public address
Looking up...
- Country
- ...
- Answered from
- ...
This is the address the rest of the internet sees. Compare it with the person next to you.
"Answered from" is the Cloudflare building that replied to your phone. It isn't always the nearest city on a map: it's wherever your network's cables lead first.
On mobile data, a VPN or iCloud Private Relay, you'll see a different address from people on the venue Wi-Fi.
2. Your address on this Wi-Fi
A web page can't read this one, so find it in your settings and compare it with your neighbour's. If you're both on the venue Wi-Fi, it usually starts with the same numbers and ends with different ones. Skip this if you're on mobile data.
Where to find it
- iPhone: Settings, Wi-Fi, tap the i beside the network, then look for IP Address.
- Android: Settings, Network and internet, Wi-Fi, tap the connected network, then look for IP address. The menu names vary by phone.
3. Time a reply
Your phone asks a server in each city for a reply and counts the milliseconds. Shorter is faster. It usually takes under a minute.
Light in fibre cable covers about 200 km each millisecond. A round trip of 100 ms means at most about 10,000 km of cable each way, and every router on the way adds a little delay.