Ether
Ether is an installation that reveals the physical reality behind the seemingly seamless internet. Every message, search, and video stream moves through a vast physical network, consuming energy along the way. Ether makes these hidden flows visible, showing how digital signals compete for space, encounter delays, and, leave a footprint in the real world. Through shifting patterns and movement, the installation translates invisible data into something tangible.
Keywords: tangible interaction, exhibition, installation, prototyping
My role
Concept development and prototyping
Tools
Arduino, microelectronics and 3D printing
Approach
Mood board, prototyping, design critique, and installation for an exhibition setting
The challenge
The task given to the team was to interpret the topic “seamful” and convey this through an interactive installation. The main question to be explored was thus: What is seamfulness (to us)?
The process
We explored the concept of seamfulness by first examining its counterpart, seamlessness. Through mood boards and discussion, we developed our own interpretation of the idea.
Because the exhibition setting required visitors to grasp the topic quickly, often in a crowded space, we carefully considered both the materials and the ways visitors would interact with the installation.
Throughout the process, our interpretation of seamfulness and our installation proposals were continuously challenged by fellow students and professors, helping us refine our work.
Mood board that explores our understanding and interpretation of seamful.
Exploring form concepts and materials.
Seamful
We worked with seamful as:
Visualizing the invisible
Showing these invisible aspects of the components that things consist of, and bringing them to light by gibing them a physical presence.
In other words: our interpretation of seamfulness has been through manifesting something seamless, invisible, and “in the background “ through a physical and spatial presence.
The installation Ether
We have worked with the flow of information, their energy consumption, and how signals between different online services affect each other in the vast number of highways that make up the network that is the internet.
Every message, search, and video stream moves through a vast physical network, consuming energy as it travels.
The installation Ether invites visitors to plug in and out different data on the network and see how the internet and the things we do online, which we typically experience as seamless and invisible, become seamful and visible.
Making the installation
The making of the installation involved:
Rebuilding the switch and constructing the box it rests on
Cutting and wiring Ethernet cables
Cutting, sanding, painting, and suspending the tubes
Coding the system to control light color and intensity based on input (which and how many cables were connected to the switch)
Dressing the exhibition room in dark textiles to enhance the effect of light traveling through the tubes
The exhibition
Plugging in the cables changes the color and the speed of the light, visualizing data packages. Each cable is labeled with a familiar digital infrastructure such as Bitcoin, ChatGPT, Netflix, Facebook, and Spotify. Visitors are invited to plug and unplug these services and reflect on the hidden traffic that underpins our seemingly seamless digital experiences.
The exhibition lasted for two hours with about 200 visitors in total.
Last test of the installation with the team before the exhibition opening.
Reflections & takeaways
This four-week project gave me valuable insight into the exhibition context and how to communicate a concept in a simple way to a broad audience. Through this project, I also explored materials and microelectronics, helping us make more conscious choices in supporting our interpretation of “seamful.”