The structure of the internet is too often perceived as volatile and immaterial. This is far from being real. The digital world has a physical characteristic that we pretend not to see. Its physicality is not solely represented by data centres and servers. It is more intrinsecally connected with the physical presence of the users. They are not seen through the lens of reality but merely as a digital projection of a real person. This project wants to explore the boundaries between Digital and physical, between virtual and real, between private and public, safe and exposed, matte and transparent. New technologies are playing a fundamental role in our lives, but we accept them without a critical reasoning about their potential consequences on our lives. We have embraced the data obsessed society we live in, we create, upload and share data, small fragments of our identity for everybody to watch and use it as they see fit. In this new subspace we place ourselves inside a Digital Panopticon. A virtual prison where we are observed without being aware of it.
Digital Panopticon - Existing and Dying in a Data Obsessed Society.
designed by Lorenzo Bigatti @Designskolen Kolding (2019)
Exploration phase
Space Design & VR experience
Knowledge Creation phase
Digital Panopticon book
The second part would be the graphic design-oriented output. The idea is to create a book that collects examples of the problem, extracts from the theoretical thesis, info, data and graphics about the data obsession of our time, as well as some visual reference.
The end goal is to create a cohesive project that embodies the interactive and esplorative phases and helps people to better understand the situation and change their behavior.
We live in a society that seems to be obsessed by data. Since the internet was born and widely spread all over the globe, the amount of personal data we share, the images we upload and the Google searches we do have risen vertiginously.
(Smith, G.J.D. 2016).
Exhibition
Concept for the branding and posters
