—Internet Syntax is an installation blending physical and virtual objects exhibited at La Casa Encendida in Madrid and Palau Robert in Barcelona.

Internet Syntax

Installation
Lucia Tahan, Campbell Orme

Internet Syntax is an installation about the language of the internet. It looks at today’s two-dimensional web to interrogate a future, immersive internet.

Exhibitions
Ecologies for other architectures, La Casa Encendida
Palau Robert

Lectures
La Casa Encendida

Will the language of the immersive internet be as loud, unpredictable and disjointed as today’s internet?

The immersive internet or metaverse has been proposed as an embodied, three-dimensional evolution of the internet. In it, humans and non-humans will teleport, interact and be immersed in digital environments, unconstrained by the laws of physics.

If the 20th century city could be interpreted as a system of ecologies, a 21st century interpretation will need to add the city’s own virtual replica. If Banham’s interpretation of Los Angeles consisted of four urban ecosystems: beach, highways, plains and hills; the Los Angeles of tomorrow will also contain its digital manifestation, including digital content geolocated in it.

The urban dwellers of tomorrow will find themselves accessing digital content both in their homes and in the public space through head-mounted displays (HMDs), such as AR glasses. People will be able to enhance their surroundings with personal digital objects that only they can see, or access content that is publicly available at specific locations.

Photos: Asier Rua

In today’s internet, powerful forces have emerged in the form of new media that is possible only through the unique capabilities of the internet itself. Some examples of these media are memes, viral content, and ads. How will these translate into a 3D world and superimpose themselves upon urban and living spaces?

Internet Syntax critically explores and presents an emerging formal language of a immersive internet: will the language of the immersive internet be as loud and disjointed as today’s internet?

The installation consists of two elements: a physical object and an AR experience. The physical object is a pillar made of printed fabric. It represents an immaterial pillar of the internet. This pillar explores some of the elements of the contemporary language of the internet at its most raw and aggressive: ads, memes, interfaces, errors. The pillar’s printed fabric also represents the dualism of 3D objects on 2D camera-spaces.

The AR experience is accessible through mobile devices in the exhibition as an AR Instagram filter. Through this filter, the elements of the pillar are augmented and visible in virtual space, filling the room with their loud, attention-seeking presence.

Ecologies for Other Architectures

La Casa Encendida, Madrid

The Ecologies for Other Architectures series examines the proposals of seven international architecture studios chosen by New Generations, a project built around an international network of emerging architects who reflect on pressing issues of the present and future. Over the course of a weekend, the Courtyard at La Casa Encendida hosted a public exhibition of seven installations, models or maquettes that propose a more sympathetic approach to other communities (human and non-human), ecosystems and territories. Ecologies for Other Architectures is curated by Gianpiero Venturini, founder of Itinerant Office and director of New Generations.