From Net, City, World to Cloud, Market, Sea

A History of the World Wide Web in Six Metaphors

What we used to call “surfing” is now known as “sharing.” Platforms sit where cyber- space and the web extended. The project From Net, City, World to Cloud, Market, Sea homes in on key metaphors to scrutinize imaginations of the internet and online experiences: Net stands for the interrelations and interconnections between infrastructures; City conceives of cyberspace as an urban and social environment; World refers to utopias unconstrained by the laws of physics and politics; Cloud marks the internet as an ephemeral and decentral storage space; Market brings its commercialization into focus; and Sea taps into the metaphor of water for the flow of digital data.

Guided by these six terms, the artistic research project and the publication with which it concludes retrace diverse historical dimensions and narratives of the internet. Each of the six metaphors is explored in three contributions by artists, theorists, and lyric poets who employ a variety of formats to grapple with the phenomenon. With contributions by Kendal Beynon, Matthias Bickenbach, Joachim Blank, Andreas Bülhoff, Mathias Denecke, Tim Etchells, Orit Gat, Omar Kasmani, Olia Lialina, Geert Lovink, Harun Maye, Cassie McQuater, OMSK Social Club, Evan Roth, Mario Santamaría, Afrah Shafiq, Andrea Sick, Molly Soda, Julian Stallabrass, and Lotte Warnsholdt.