For the launch of Terrain’s physical location, I was invited to build a functional and publicly visible on-site server capable of hosting Terrain’s digital network infrastructure – a self-hosted website (terrain.earth), and self-hosted ‘Star’ as part of the Urbit network.

Embracing the performative nature of this server, I expanded the commission beyond its pragmatic web-hosting operations, embedding the server hardware within an LCD screen that is programmed to search for, download and display YouTube videos uploaded within the last hour based on a specific search term. By valuing upload recency over algorithmic curation, this unfettered stream of content passing through Terrain’s server is emblematic of earlier paradigms of online experience.

The term underpinning the images you see here is “walking”. What was selected as a preliminary keyword with enough frequently uploaded content to test the device has been retained for its simplicity – a collective action opening a window onto a diverse array of inhabited terrains.

While the search query, so far, remains unaltered, I retain transparent remote backdoor access to modify this term and subsequently alter the content pipeline displayed at any time.