Will NobleTo Connect To This Dalston Wi-Fi Network, You Must Submit A Doodle
Love Song with Green Lines by Eddycoolshoes. "A figure caught mid-trajectory - body angled forward, weight distributed over the deck with the ease of someone for whom movement is a first language. The black diagonal cuts across the picture plane with real physical conviction, the blue passages building board and rider in loose, committed strokes. Four green lines cascade from the upper edge, marking speed or ramp or simply the rush of downward motion. A hot pink heart anchors the lower right, lending the whole composition a warmth that sits naturally alongside the kinetic energy above." Image: Wifärt Gallery/the artist.
We've all handed over our details (genuine and otherwise) to access a wi-fi network. But one in Hackney doesn't want your email address or DOB — it wants your doodle.
FREE Hackney Wi-Fi can be picked up around the Dalston Square area, but only if you're willing to spend a few seconds to create a sketch, scribble or drawing of any kind.
Once submitted, the artwork is reviewed, given a title and accompanied by a curatorial note before being added to Wifärt Gallery, an online exhibition made entirely from public submissions. "A loop drawn in seconds becomes a study of form," says Wifärt Gallery, "A tangled scribble becomes a meditation on movement. A stick figure becomes a portrait."
Watermelon Slice, Blue Field by Aishik. "A triangular wedge of fruit anchors the composition with confident, layered red outlines that accumulate rather than correct, building form through repetition. The dense green scribbling at the base reads as rind and shadow simultaneously, grounding the slice against a loose horizon of blue horizontal strokes. Black seed shapes, drawn with small oval precision, introduce a quieter rhythm against the otherwise energetic surrounding marks." Image: Wifärt Gallery/the artist.
What we really love is how the artworks, rattled off in mere seconds, are afforded the kind of gushing 'artspeak' that might usually be reserved for larger — dare we say more indulgent — exhibitions (see the captions in this article for a taster).
The concept, which launched in May 2026, is the idea of artist Dan Berg. "I love the idea of taking something as boring and familiar as a Wi-Fi login page and turning it into a tiny moment of creativity," he says, "We're so used to exchanging information for access to digital services. This project replaces that transaction with something human. For a few seconds, people stop being users and become artists."
Dachshund With Pink Parcel by Karla Flexman. "A long-bodied dog occupies the compositional centre with quiet confidence, its form described in looping black outlines that wobble just enough to suggest life rather than diagram. Karla Flexman layers bright-green grass and brown hatching beneath the animal, grounding it in a landscape assembled from scribbled colour fields. Above, a hot-pink ovoid - triangle-necked and strangely official - hovers as unexplained cargo, tipping the scene from domestic into the gently surreal." Image: Wifärt Gallery/the artist.
On Wednesday 8 July (7pm-10pm), people are invited to a 'grand launch' of the gallery, around Dalston Square. We're not sure what form the gallery takes, or precisely where it'll be, but we do know there will be drinks, a raffle and Twiglets. RSVP for this on the Wifärt website.
Elsewhere, The Crowd Gathers by Theo Adeyemi. "A procession of stick figures advances across the picture plane in raw umber strokes, their uneven limbs suggesting both awkwardness and collective momentum. Above the leftmost figure, bubble forms drift upward toward a jagged speech cloud bearing the word 'Elsewhere' - a destination named but unreachable. Adeyemi's single-colour line work, applied with varying pressure, gives the figures a cave-painting directness that sits somewhere between protest march and migration." Image: Wifärt Gallery/the artist.
One thing that people haven't been submitting, says Berg, is rude drawings. "Everyone keeps predicting I'll get loads of them. I still haven't received a single one. I genuinely don't know what is happening."
Peruse plenty more hastily-drawn art on the Wifärt Gallery website. The plan is to keep the project going for at least a year.
