The Network Reigns

The Network Reigns is an exhibition that questions the image of the digital “cloud” as abstract and weightless, asking what excessive energy use, mineral extraction, and infrastructure lie behind our screens. Alongside the ecological and geological impact of digital technology, Martha Kicsiny reflects on technofeudalism, where user activity generates unpaid cloud capital, turning the internet into a feudal domain of control and dependency. To visualise the tension between our physical and increasingly dominant digital lives, she uses the symbolic language of archaic myths that she combines with 3D printing, drawing, and antique objects. The light-based images are lithophanes, which are completely white unless backlit. Visitors are invited to experiment with lithophanes via the interactive installation of a circular animation broken into shards. By merging historical image technologies with contemporary digital processes, the exhibition reminds viewers that digital screens are material objects rooted in history and physical realities.