virtual boundaries – state of the (un)known
»Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project.
You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.«
This statement was part of the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace written by John Perry Barlow, written in 1996 and part of an optimism that started before the term digital age was established. The illusion of the borderless internet is now falling apart. We are aware of real borders, constructed and created by humans and constantly changing depending on geopolitics. Created and designed by humans, our virtual space is reflecting this behavior and virtual borders appear in different forms that are not yet defined. They are mirroring existing borders and creating new ones. The Internet itself emerges as a new platform for battles for power and resources.
Virtual Boundaries – state of the (un)known is the biggest research project i have done so far.
It focusses on virtual boundaries and how to visualize something invisible.
»The idea of an independent cyberspace that exists off-limits to state power is deeply rooted in the idealism of the early internet. It’s like the sea once was: an unregulated and fluid space, that today is overlaid with restrictions, surveillance, infrastructures. It feels less and less like a network and more like a series of closed platforms, each of which contains a fully consistent reality.«
