The Glass Room Community Edition is a pop-up exhibition that explores how society is dealing with the growing dependency on data and technology, and the normalisation of monitoring and surveillance. It aims to engage visitors to think more critically about their devices and interactions with technology, as well as the mechanisms and companies that create the environment of those technologies.

This edition was developed as a result of high demand from visitors of larger Glass Rooms in London and New York, who also wanted to set up similar exhibitions in their cities. This slimmed down, portable version comes in a lightweight and adaptable format that can be set up in a variety of different spaces from libraries and schools, to conferences and metro stations. So far we have hosted 150 events and received 155,000 visitors in more than 30 countries and it is available in English, French, German and Spanish.

The current version of the Glass Room Community Edition focuses on the Internet of Things (IoT), with an aim to creatively illustrate the larger issues around data, privacy and smart devices. It explores some of these new technologies in a playful way, and encourages visitors to question whether IoT technologies will really make our lives more efficient, healthier and safer.

The exhibition set features interactive apps, posters, displays and a takeaway for visitors: the “Data Detox Kit”. Click here for more information and images about about what’s included. There are interactive elements like our Fake or Real game, which lets players guess which hi-tech devices – from self-propelled baby strollers to robotic bees – are real and which are fake. Two of the large-scale posters explore the companies behind the everyday technologies that we use like Alphabet and Facebook, and challenge visitors to think about how much data they give way through all their activities in their “Data Day”.

Please send an email to events@tacticaltech.org if you are interested in hosting your own. Due to The Glass Room Community Edition's huge popularity, response could be slow. Please be patient and we will respond as soon as possible.