GUO CHENG

How is a single mouse click on a webpage button experienced in the physical world? In Digital Terraforming, artist Guo Cheng visualises the temporal and spatial journey of a single click through topology. The data transmission of a click, which typically leaps through several servers in different locations with distinctive IP addresses within milliseconds, is reimagined here. In a whimsical yet thought-provoking way, Guo ‘pinches’ the Earth from the locations of these IP addresses, collapsing them into a central point inside the globe. The result is a distorted spherical shape that symbolises the dramatic compression of time and space during the event of a click. On a broader level, the work points to the experience of acceleration in a digital era caused by the morphing of time and space, prompting profound reflection on contemporary life.