Journal of the New Media Caucus | ISSN: 1942017X
Packet Switching
Joelle Dietrick
Assistant Teaching Professor, Florida State University
Owen Mundy
Associate Professor, Florida State University
This essay discusses the conceptual and technical underpinnings of Packet Switching, our
ongoing body of work that visualizes architecture as fragments affected by economic and
communications systems. Inspired by the technical process of the same name, Packet
Switching emerged out of a shared interest in the intensive integration of software and the
built environment. How, for example, can we represent the unruly algorithms of high
frequency trading, and their resulting effect on housing markets? As this issue continues to
evolve, so does our collaboration, with iterations including custom software, public
commissions, generative animations, and writing.
Grid, Sequence Me (Packet Switching DC), 2013, Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy, installation with three
channel generative animation at Flashpoint Gallery, Washington DC, dimensions variable, © Brandon
Webster.