We started the Welcome to My Filter Bubble! workshop by discussing our online behaviours, such as what social media platforms, apps and games we use, and in particular what kind of videos we watch. We were a small group of participants and helpers with various ages from eleven to forty. Our internet preferences were quite different – for example, unsurprisingly, I had no idea of the German YouTube stars, such as Julien Bamm, who has more than four million subscribers.

After getting to know our personalised online worlds, the aim was to visualise our filter bubbles in the form of a physical installation. Large transparent bubbles, namely, acrylic half-spheres, served as the basic structure. The idea was to hang them in the ceiling, so that exhibition visitors could stick their heads into the bubbles. Altogether three bubbles were made, each with a different angle on the theme. One played with the idea of inside vs. outside of the bubble, another with the comfortable and he non-comfortable in the Internet, and the third one with losing the view to the outside.

Here’s a short article (in German) of the exhibition.

Special thanks to Jeanne Vogt and NODE for inviting me to do this workshop. Many thanks also to Katharina, Theron, Janik and Celine for helping out with the workshop and to all the participants for opening up their filter bubbles.