The Submarine Cable Map is an interactive, physical map of the global network of undersea cables that carry the communication signals of the Internet. It challenges how we conceptualise the Internet as a ‘wireless’ technology rather than a physical infrastructure. Remapping a communication system normally regarded as invisible highlights the evocative fragility of a world physically connected by cables. Viewers are invited to interact with the work through an analogue switchboard that illuminates corresponding pathways around the world. This interaction is a reminder of the materiality of the Internet, where digital communication is entangled, chaotic, and subject to interference from the natural world.
Made for SafARI 2016, Sydney, and exhibited in Currents, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, 2016 - 2017.
Submarine Cable Map, 2016, EL wire and electronic components, dimensions variable.
Installation view, Kudos Gallery, Sydney, for Safari 2016. Photograph: Document Photography.
