The internet to me is something that links everyone together. It allows us to keep in touch, learn, and understand new topics and ideas. How I imagine the internet is like a chain that links all of us together. I have chosen to represent the internet as a colorful chain linked in a circle for many reasons.

Firstly, the colors in the chain are meant to represent different platforms on the internet such as red for news sources like CNN or Fox that keep us informed and constantly learning. Yellow for Snapchat which allows people to communicate and keep in touch with each other. Blue for sites like Word or WordPress that allow us to communicate and post our ideas for others to see. Every color represents a site that enables people to connect with others and better themselves, which to me is what the internet is all about. Additionally, I have made the chain a complete circle because whether we like it or not, we are always connected to the internet. This day and age the internet is impossible to escape, which is represented by the circle. The paper that the chains are made from is meant to be a satirical play on the artifact post from earlier the year. While I understand the paper is not an artifact, it is something that we use way less now due to the internet. The paper was used as an homage to the artifact post from earlier this year, and is ironic because I built the internet out of an analog artifact.

Another side of this art piece is Ray Bradbury and his book “The Veldt”. According to Ray Bradbury’s opinion on the internet, people are drawn to, attached to, and crippled by the internet. I draw on this take in my project and represent this idea with the light in the center of my project. The light represents the tie and attraction that people feel towards the internet. Like a mindless bug to light, people are attracted and reliant on something that is harming them. Even though we know the light is bad, people are so attached to the internet, it is impossible to stop going towards it. I also picked a chain to represent the internet because of how the internet is holding users hostage. Saying we are “bound” by the chains of the internet is to say that we are unable to go without it. The internet is something we will never escape and will always be bound to.

The juxtaposition between the colorful chain that connects us and the light that kills us truly incapsulates what the internet really is.