Abstract

Short Paper

Keywords: net art, web, real time, data, open source, media, interactive, webcam, surveillance, environment, multi-cultures, humanity, microcosm, macrocosm, literature, Aleph, Borges, space, time, coexistence, unity, peace, landscape, global, climate, networks, science, technology

This paper presents the motivation, background, and implementation of Through the Aleph: A Glimpse of the World in Real Time, a net art project offering an unprecedented visual and interactive experience where many places on Earth and in space can be seen simultaneously in an instant. Built in an open source environment with live data, this project visualizes the  diversity of human civilizations (microcosm) and the unity of humanity without borders in the ever-changing universe (macrocosm). With an unexpected approach to surveillance cameras and global networks it draws the connections between individuals and the global environment,
Earth and outer space, eternity and time, and art and science. In a virtual world, this meditative web project merges multiple layers of dynamic imagery related to culture, cosmology, and technology in a globalized society into an abstract landscape. It not only embraces the dream of peace on Earth but also explores the bond between humankind and nature through time and space in the present moment.

• Born in China, Jing Zhou is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and professor in USA. Her work has been shown and collected internationally including: Triennale Design Museum, Milan; Asian Cultural Center, New York City; British Computer Society, London; SIGGRAPH Art Gallery; ISEA; CAA; Les Abattoirs Museum, France; Mons Memorial Museum, Belgium; Royal Institution of Australia; Danish Poster Museum; GAMeC Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery, Italy; Athens Digital Art Festival, Greece; Taksim Republic Art Gallery, Istanbul; FILE, Sao Paulo; Korea Visual Information Design Assn.; Goethe Institute Alexandria, Egypt; Stanford University; public collection of the WRO Media Art Center, Poland; Waikato Museum, New Zealand; Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic; SDAI Museum of the
  Living Artist, San Diego; and Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco. jingzhoustudio.net

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