net.weight is initiated and administrated by Rich Ehite.
Its purpose is to act as a sounding board for ideas about the internet as a sculptural entity.
Discussions could revolve around such topics as the size and mass of the internet, sculptural visualisations (literal, metaphorical etc...) and the sculptural methods used in creating net-based artworks.
Rich @ 18:28 in
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This project began when I started thinking about the phrase ‘net weight’ (a weight excluding that of the packaging or container etc. OED). It led to thinking ‘what, if at all, is the weight of the internet?’ Not all the equipment, hardware, wires and cables, but the weight of the information. Could there be a way of measuring the mass of the fundamental particles that carry the data? If so my plan is to make an object - a sculpture - that weighs exactly the same as the internet. What form it would take I do not yet know.
After a bit of research I discovered that the particles which carry electrical signals are photons - and they have no mass. However, after a bit more research I stumbled upon radiation pressure and wondered if this could be put into practice to deduce the amount of pressure the photons which comprise the internet might exert upon a surface. This could then be converted to a weight.
That’s just one possiblity though. And I still lack a vital piece of information - how many photons does it take to carry a byte? All I would have to do then is multiply the amount of photons per byte by the amount of bytes which currently make up the internet. This number will obviously not be entirely accurate - the net is constantly changing and I imagine the figure will very quickly become out of date. The resulting number from the calculation would be a snap-shot of a particular moment in time. I then have to work out the radiation pressure of the amount of photons I have just calculated and I have my number… maybe? My physics is a bit shaky.
As well as this idea I thought that there must be other sculptural ideas worth exploring - and that is what this message board is for. By ‘sculptural’ I mean everything from solid, object-based works to more fluid, psychological or spatial ideas in the manner of, say, Joseph Beuys’ social sculpture or the sculptural behaviour of processes and information systems.
It is early days yet and I still haven’t quite solidified the thinking behind this, I just feel that there is potential here. And it is a potential which I think needs exploring among a group of people, throwing ideas into a pot and seeing what sticks to the sides.
Rich @ 16:37 in
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