White Spots
A Journey to the Edge of the Internet
The White Spots App
Do you ever desire to escape from the information flows surrounding us?
The White Spots App visualizes the invisible electromagnetic cloud that we live in and offers a way out.
Do you ever desire to escape from the information flows surrounding us?
The White Spots App visualizes the invisible electromagnetic cloud that we live in and offers a way out.
Use the App with Google cardboard to travel from the online to the offline world in Virtual Reality, or use the White Spots world map to travel to places off the grid near you.
In VR mode, the network scanner shows the invisible digital signals around you in real time and takes you on a journey to the end of the Internet in immersive 360° stories.
In Map mode, the White Spots world map shows the global divide between the connected and unconnected worlds. Browse the map to explore video stories about life off the grid or use the route planner to venture into uncharted territory yourself. The route planner finds a route to a White Spot near you and invites you to add new stories to the map.
The White Spots App features a world map, a network scanner, a GPS based route planner, short documentary clips and a series of virtual reality experiences.
In VR mode, the network scanner shows the invisible digital signals around you in real time and takes you on a journey to the end of the Internet in immersive 360° stories.
In Map mode, the White Spots world map shows the global divide between the connected and unconnected worlds. Browse the map to explore video stories about life off the grid or use the route planner to venture into uncharted territory yourself. The route planner finds a route to a White Spot near you and invites you to add new stories to the map.
The White Spots App features a world map, a network scanner, a GPS based route planner, short documentary clips and a series of virtual reality experiences.
Download the App and join the global expedition to the end of the Internet!
The White Spots Project
Digital networks are forever expanding. Places without cell phone reception or Wi-Fi connection are increasingly hard to find. The remaining White Spots on the digital map will soon disappear, leaving no place on earth unconnected. But what is happening off the grid?
White Spots is a collaborative multimedia project by information designer Richard Vijgen, documentary filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak, and visual artist Jacqueline Hassink. Working in various media, they travel beyond the frontiers of the networked world to explore unwired landscapes, communities, and lifestyles, questioning the need to be always connected in one seamless, planetary Tech-Topia.
While scarcely populated areas experience low connectivity for obvious economic reasons, the journey brings surprising stories of an often deliberate lack of connectivity, even inside the world's most intensely networked digital hubs.
White Spots runs from May 2015 till September 2019. The project consists of the interactive White Spots app (Studio Richard Vijgen, 2015), the television documentary Offline is the New Luxury (VPRO 2016) and documentary feature film Ubiquity by Bregtje van der Haak (BALDR Film 2018), and the photo book and traveling exhibition Unwired by Jacqueline Hassink (Hatje Cantz Verlag, Nederlands Fotomuseum, 2018).
White Spots is currently on view at the XXII Triennale di Milano.
White Spots is currently on view at the XXII Triennale di Milano.
The Virtual Reality and the Network Visualization work best on recent devices. The app is tested on iPhone 5s and newer and modern Android devices.
English version
Dutch version
White Spots XXII Triennale di Milano
IDFA DocLab Elastic Reality 2016
Sheffield Documentary Festival, Alternate Realities Competition 2017
Dutch Design Awards nomination 2017
Prix Europa Online nomination 2016
HotDocs Toronto 2018 Online nomination 2016
One World Festival Prague2019
Watch Online
Being Offline is the New LuxuryEnglish version
Dutch version
White Spots XXII Triennale di Milano
White Spots has been generously supported by
