The human eye has amazing capabilities, allowing us to see and perceive millions of different things in our visible spectrum, while still missing a lot of other things. One of the cooler things that we’ve been missing is the infosphere around us: a large collection of global ecosystems and digital signs that we rely on every day, yet cannot see.
But thanks to app Architecture of Radio, we are now able to get a glimpse of that “infosphere”; and get a cool visual of the electromagnetic waves emanating from cell towers, GPS satellites, and Wi-Fi routers that allows us to live our digital lives.
Revealing the invisible
Launched in early November of last year, Architecture of Radio provides users with an augmented-reality experience where your iPhone or iPad acts as a window into a typically imperceptible world.
Spin your iPhone or iPad around you, and you’ll be able to watch in amazement, the captivating spherical wavefronts radiate from wireless routers and cell towers.
Because this app is intended to be more of an artistic experience, the waves users see are compiled from various public databases and are mere estimates based on distance; not actual measurements taken by your device. And while some don’t see the point of such an app, Dutch designer Richard Vijgen did.
He decided to pay homage to the app, the first of it’s kind, by featuring it in his art exhibition at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany. Vijgen says the app gives users the chance to see reverse daily experiences by “hiding the visible while revealing the invisible technological landscape we interact with through our devices.”
Seeing the unseen
But unless you have an annual art exhibition, why should you use Architecture of Radio? The developers say: for curiosity, of course. We see everything else we depend on: the roads we use everyday, the buildings we work in, so why wouldn’t we want to see the digital and global infrastructure that we rely on as well?
So if curiosity about the digital world is eating away at you, if you can appreciate the art in electromagnetic waves, or if you just want another cool app in your stash, I suggest you head over to the Apple store and begin seeing the unseen.
#ArchitectureOfRadio
