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The dead internet theory proposes that the internet—once a cornerstone of human connection, supplanting the town square, secret meeting spots, back alleys, and bars—is now void of life. Gone is the space for unfiltered dialogue and the collective voices of the masses, replaced by the white noise of bots and AI-generated content. At the height of the digital age, the forefront of the AI revolution, and in the depths of fake news awareness, today this theory feels more incisive than ever. Spearheaded by tech oligarchs with more unelected power than any humans in history, the long funeral for the internet has begun.But deep within the cracks, pulsing through electrically charged fibre optics and held together by scavenged HTML and CSS, lives the heartbeat of the internet: the part it was born of; the part whose very existence is a radical act. These soft fibres are the human touch and the handmade, the soft part of software, and the softer parts of hardware. The artists in this exhibition embrace the soft internet theory—creating works that humanize technology, seek empathy in the digital, and write poetry into the command line. Through practices that span net art, interactive sculpture, installation, video, and textile, Soft Internet Theory invites audiences to consider a gentler, more human digital future.
—Tristan Sauer, curator
This event is free but an RSVP to this Facebook event is appreciated.
TALK AND TOUR
With the curator at 6 p.m.
Please RSVP for the talk and tour by emailing Sodam at [email protected]
Developed for the Art Gallery of Guelph in conjunction with the 2025 Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators, with support from the Middlebrook Social Innovation Fund, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Featured Image: Stuck in the Motherboard, Marisa Musing. Courtesy of the artist.
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Event venue
145 Richmond Street, Charlottetown, PE, Canada, Prince Edward Island C1A 1J1
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Exhibitions in CharlottetownTechnology in CharlottetownArtificial-intelligence in CharlottetownArt in Charlottetown