net.weight

11.04.06 Spatial Ideas 001

Thinking about the internet as a spatial entity with it’s own mass, size and shape - and trying not to visualise it merely as a network of interconnected points - is difficult. I’m looking for a progressive approach to objectifying the internet. One that takes into account it’s sculptural properties.
The image of the net as a huge spider diagram is a popular and easy way of illustrating how it operates. These images are often very beautiful but, for me, do not really express how we use the space and how this space could manifest itself.
World mapper is an interesting site i came across a couple of days ago: World Mapper
Although this falls into the category of information visualisation/representation I thought it interesting how the characteristics of the countries were altered - the swelling and whithering depending on what came in or out.
This would be an interesting format to apply to the internet: perhaps of data flow between servers? Each server being represented by an inflatable ball which expands and contracts as information flows to and from it. I imagine thousands of such ballons, all quite close together, vying for space and filling parts of a large room, squeezing against each-other - the noise would be incredible - maybe some would burst?
I like how this idea involves a physical volume. A form would be created from the inflated objects reacting against each-other and their surroundings. Maybe use liquid instead of air to give it weight? The object rests on a table or plinth (hey, traditional!) and slowly swells and subsides it’s various parts as it responds to data flow. Perhaps this would cause it to creep along the surface until it finally falls over the edge and destroys itself?