This Was The Internet

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Overview:

“This Was The Internet” is a thought-provoking installation by fine artist Adam T Burton, a graduate of Norwich University of the Arts. At 61 years old, Burton combines decades of creative exploration with a critical eye toward the impermanence of digital culture. This project captures the vast, chaotic, and ephemeral essence of the internet in a tangible, analogue form. The installation’s centerpiece is a collection of 36 hand-bound volumes (at the time of writing) painstakingly assembled over four years. These books preserve pages sourced from the internet—websites, social media posts, personal photographs, historic documents, memes, informational guides, “how-to” tutorials, micro-learning content, tweets (or X posts), maps, shopping pages, and more—in short, a cross-section of everything accessible online.

 

Concept and Inspiration:

“This Was The Internet” functions as both a time capsule and a thought experiment. In the event of a large-scale coronal mass ejection (CME) or similar catastrophe that disrupts or eradicates stored digital data—a near certainty at some point in our future—the internet, as we know it, could cease to exist. In such a scenario, these hand-bound volumes would serve as a tangible relic of our digital age. The work asks: what would survive of our collective online experience? What truths, trivialities, and artifacts would remain to define this era?

 

The Process:

The creation of these volumes is as much a part of the artwork as the finished pieces themselves. Each page is printed using an Epson printer on A4 paper. The paper varies in quality, and imperfections—such as images bleeding through, printing errors, and accidental duplications—are intentionally left intact. Some pages are even printed upside down. These distortions emphasize the imperfection and fragility of the internet as a medium and as a memory. Each book is bound by hand, with covers crafted from Italian paper. The scale of the volumes ranges from modest collections to immense 800-page tomes, some of which are strikingly weighty. These books are not just records—they are physical objects with presence and gravitas, inviting viewers to engage with the internet as something tactile and finite.

 

Objective:

The installation invites viewers to confront the fragility of digital memory, the impermanence of the internet, and the tension between technological progress and the enduring need for physical preservation. It challenges assumptions of permanence in the digital age and offers a speculative vision of how future generations might piece together our era in the absence of the internet.

 

Exhibition Design:

The installation will feature the 36 volumes displayed in an immersive, library-like setting, with additional multimedia components to enhance the experience:

- Interactive Stations: Visitors can browse selected digital and physical pages side by side, comparing the ephemeral and permanent.

- Projected Imagery: Highlights of internet culture (e.g., memes, historic tweets) will be projected alongside quotes exploring the vulnerability of digital storage.

- Collaborative Space: A blank “future volume” invites participants to contribute their own pages of the internet, making the installation a living, growing archive.

 

Audience Engagement:

“This Was The Internet” appeals to a wide audience: digital natives grappling with questions of legacy, historians intrigued by digital preservation, and anyone interested in the interplay of art, technology, and culture. It serves as a space for reflection, dialogue, and participation.

 

Conclusion:

“This Was The Internet” is not just an art installation—it’s a cultural artifact in its own right. By transforming the intangible, transient internet into a permanent, analogue archive, Adam T Burton offers a critical and creative lens through which we can examine our fleeting, interconnected reality. These weighty, imperfect volumes serve as a reminder that even in a world dominated by technology, the human hand and its imperfections are essential to preservation and legacy.