‘virtual city’ by sang un jeon represents the current topography of the internet, with buildings whose height is matched to the unique monthly readers of popular websites

designed by korean-born media artist and RISD MFA candidate sang un jeon, ‘virtual city‘ is a physical visualization of the current topography of the world wide web, interfaced to a keyboard (‘where the interaction of the virtual and real world takes place’, jeon explains).

reflecting on how much of our time is spent on the internet, jeon represented each of several major websites with a real-world building whose height reflects the estimated unique monthly visitors of that service provider. twitter with its 250 million unique views becomes the new museum in manhattan, NY, while ebay’s 88 million translates to the more conservative grand central terminal. topping the list is google, whose 900 million views make it the world trade center, while facebook (750 million) becomes the empire state building and wikipedia (350 million) the gherkin building in london.

representing structures from throughout the united states, london, and beijing, the project emphases the lack of national boundaries of the internet. in the ‘virtual city’, each building is located on the key for the first letter in its name.

sang un jeon utilized google sketch-up pro and rhinoceros to re-realize the buildings, which were each 3D printed and mounted to a keyboard. more information about the letters on the project page.

virtual internet city by sang un jeon view from above

virtual internet city by sang un jeon perspective view

virtual internet city by sang un jeon each letter becomes a building, its height determined by the monthly visitors of a correlated website

virtual internet city by sang un jeon research

virtual internet city by sang un jeon top view sketch of the buildings and letters

virtual internet city by sang un jeon perspective render

virtual internet city by sang un jeon the cityscape

virtual internet city by sang un jeon shaded perspective render

virtual internet city by sang un jeon detail on the twitter ‘t’ key

— virtual internet city by sang un jeon

INFINITI digital art competition – CURVED VISIONS designboom in collaboration with INFINITI is offering an international competition asking participants to design spectacular or interactive digital artworks or performances, to be exhibited throughout europe. participation is open to applicants from every country in the world: to professionals, design-enthusiasts, and students.

registration is free and now open, through july 10th, 2012. view the call-to-entry for more details!