jeroen vaan loon materializes a glass internet filled with smoke signals
(above) how would the internet look like if all data were temporary and ephemeral?
all images © gert jan van rooij

 

 

 

jeroen van loon is an artist based in the netherlands, interested in the intersection of technology and contemporary culture. his fascination revolves around the impact, or lack of it, of digital technology in our society, documenting and visualizing it, both online and offline. for his latest piece ’an internet’, the artist’s motivation was a simple question: how would the internet look like if all data were temporary and ephemeral? the project results in a vision of such a future internet, with a radically new type of data: smoke.

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
the project results in a vision of such a future internet, with a radically new type of data: smoke

 

 

 

today’s internet consists of glass fiber cables that stretch across the ocean floor, connecting the continents, and thereby creating a worldwide network. all the cables have names, such as the ‘asia africa europe-1 (AAE-1). these cables ensure that, wherever you are on the planet, you will always have access to the same data. data, whose main value is that it can be saved and stored for later.

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
the installation converts the 280 internet undersea cable names into (binary) smoke signals

 

 

 

‘an internet’ converts the 280 internet undersea cable names into (binary) smoke signals. the names are puffed into the glass network, causing it to fill up, to spill over by which it puffs the data out again. together the smoke signals create a unique moment without any form of documentation.

 

the work is currently on show at the centraal museum in the netherlands, together with www.cellout.me, for which jeroen van loon is offering his complete DNA sequence for sale.

 

video courtesy of jeroen van loon

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
the names are puffed into the glass network, causing it to fill up, to spill over by which it puffs the data out again

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
together the smoke signals create a unique moment without any form of documentation

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
the installation is on show at the centraal museum in utrecht, netherlands

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
installation close up

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
a smoke machine fills up the tubes

jeroen van loon an internet centraal museum netherlands designboom
close up of installation

 

 

project info:

 

made possible by: the kf hein foundation

custom glass work: laboratory glass specialists
software and hardware: studio beneden – www.studiobeneden.nl

photography: gert jan van rooij 

video: arno film

 

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: juliana neira | designboom