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Autonomy Cube, 2015
Plexiglas cube with computer components
The Autonomy Cube's transparent housing offers a glimpse of hardware that allows users to connect to the Internet. Paglen configured the work to route Wi-Fi traffic through the Tor network, which encrypts and anonymizes communications. In Cable Landing Sites, Paglen posed the question, "What does the Internet look like?" With the Autonomy Cube he asks instead, "What might the Internet look like if severed from its surveillance functions?" The artwork produces a space, within an institution of the civic state, that is free from government and corporate monitoring. When it is installed, its users become participants in the debate about surveillance, especially within spaces such as libraries and museums, where privacy has traditionally been protected. |