The Internet Fossils
‘The Internet Fossils’ is an MA research project exploring and revealing the permanent imprint that discarded Internet equipment has on the planet through a speculative future perspective.
It questions why these objects are seen as valueless and why they are treated so carelessly. The research focuses on household Internet equipment, and more specifically on Internet cable connectors due to their familiarity and abundance in our lives. They all contain copper and traces of gold which are both considered ‘valuable’ materials; so why is it that we just throw these cables away?
‘The Internet Fossils’ imagines how they might be found in the future in fossilised forms, preserving the non-biodegradable plastic shell of the connectors.
Some of the questions it explores are:
What materials will they be embedded into? Will they be found in hybrid materials merging synthetic, non-biodegradable materials and natural materials? How will they be valued in the future? Will plastic be the material that is most valued due to humans ceasing to manufacture it anymore? Will they be exhibited or collected similarly to how we collect artefacts in the present time?
It questions why these objects are seen as valueless and why they are treated so carelessly. The research focuses on household Internet equipment, and more specifically on Internet cable connectors due to their familiarity and abundance in our lives. They all contain copper and traces of gold which are both considered ‘valuable’ materials; so why is it that we just throw these cables away?
‘The Internet Fossils’ imagines how they might be found in the future in fossilised forms, preserving the non-biodegradable plastic shell of the connectors.
Some of the questions it explores are:
What materials will they be embedded into? Will they be found in hybrid materials merging synthetic, non-biodegradable materials and natural materials? How will they be valued in the future? Will plastic be the material that is most valued due to humans ceasing to manufacture it anymore? Will they be exhibited or collected similarly to how we collect artefacts in the present time?