麻豆约拍

How is technology changing the way we see? The artist James Bridle reimagines John Berger鈥檚 Ways of Seeing for the digital age and reveals the internet鈥檚 hidden infrastructure.

鈥淭he way we see things is affected by what we know, or what we believe鈥� 鈥� John Berger. In 1972, Berger鈥檚 seminal TV series and book changed perceptions of art and set out to reveal the language of images.

Of course, that was before the internet, smartphones, and social media took hold.

How do we see the world around us now? And, who are the artists urging us to look more closely?

James Bridle writes about the development of technology on our lives. His work has been exhibited at the V&A, the Barbican, in galleries worldwide, and online. In this series of four programmes, he updates Berger鈥檚 Ways of Seeing, inviting contemporary artists to explore how the technology we use every day has transformed the ways in which we see and are seen.

In this first episode, Invisible Networks, James looks for the hidden, physical infrastructure of the internet. Does it matter that it鈥檚 being swept out of sight? Artists Hito Steyerl, Ingrid Burrington, Trevor Paglen, Olia Lialina, Julian Oliver and Danja Vasiliev explain why they鈥檙e compelled to show us what鈥檚 going on beneath the surface.

Producer: Steve Urquhart
A Reduced Listening production for 麻豆约拍 Radio 4