Number-crunching Austrian artist Peter Jellitsch was inspired by the internet to create the above sculpture, but not in the nostalgic/free associative/more-is-more way that’s typical of much net art–Jellitsch was simply interested in signal strength. For 45 days, the artist used a radio-wave-measuring device to read the strength of the Wi-Fi network at the Bleecker Street apartment where he was staying, then chronologically mapped each of his hundreds of data points as the various heights of the glacial structure’s terrain.
For Jellitsch, the project is about mapping the invisible forces upon which are lives are increasingly dependent. ” “For me, it is no longer necessary for architects to think in measurements such as meter, kilometer, or decibel anymore,” he says. “Kilowatt, hertz, and terabyte are the emerging dimensions for our environment today.”
