The Internet Archive and DJ Spooky

“Quantopia,” an acoustic portrait of the Internet

The Internet Archive is commissioning electronic musician and experimental composer Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) to create “Quantopia: The Evolution of the Internet,” a multimedia production for string quartet, vocalist, and an original electronic instrument. The composition will be about the origins of the Internet and what needs to happen to keep it accessible, neutral, and free. An original Quantopia Instrument will be created by Greg Niemeyer—a large touchscreen with a software tool to draw network diagrams. It will enable DJ Spooky to build and take apart simple networks using sampled sounds, with additional layers of sound from the vocalist and string quartet.

The Internet Archive will partner with Berkeley Center for New Media, Stanford Live, Youth Radio, and selected programs in the San Francisco Unified School District and across the Bay Area for music and technology workshops and a service learning course at UC Berkeley. The work will premiere at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in January 2019 with collaborators and performing partners MEDIUMLABS, Roger Antonsen, Classical Revolution, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and is being investigated for a potential international tour managed by Sozo Media. A downloadable album with music videos and a video of the premiere will be hosted by Internet Archive.