Langlands & Bell, Internet Giants: Masters of the Universe, Ikon, Birmingham, review: The sculptures are a feat of artistic endeavour

New work by British artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell features scaled down versions of the headquarters of all our major internet companies – Google, Apple and Facebook

'Apple Sunnyvale'

They could be a series of satellite stations floating above backgrounds of pure, vivid colour: neon pink, purple, deep forest green. Hung on the wall they look like flat images from a distance but, up close, they are three-dimensional sculptures hung inside a picture frame. These elaborate yet clean forms, all hand made by the artists from white card, are precise, scaled down versions of the headquarters of all our major internet companies – Google, Apple, Facebook.

The sculptures are a feat of artistic endeavour, for these are the most massive buildings on our planet, their designs as vast and epic in scale as a Star Wars film, which reflects their cultural dominance. Apple’s Infinite Loop, designed by Norman Foster, appears like a mammoth polo mint. In real life the Apple Campus occupies 79,000 square metres. These buildings embody the pinnacle of human achievement as well as an excess of power, which makes them both thrilling and sinister.

The artist duo Langlands & Bell, who made these sculptures, have always been concerned with architecture, the ways in which we inhabit and relate to it, what it means: how we are reflected in these behemoths. What was the preserve of religion and state, the commissioning of palaces and cathedrals, buildings designed to display symbolic power, has now fallen to the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Monumental architecture has become the home of big data, self contained campuses with supermarkets and apartments, where inhabitants glide between home and office on micro-scooters. An Emerald City realised, with leaders dictating from behind control panels like the Wizard of Oz.

‘I’m trying to make the world a more open place (Mark Zuckerberg)’ by Langlands & Bell

A series of portraits appear alongside the buildings. Each called Icon, they are of the internet pioneers: blurred, so that each enlarged pixel could be the tile in an elaborate mosaic. The portraits are small, the size of a traditional religious icon, with the company leaders captured in mid speech, as though proselytising like prophets – each with a glib, meme-style quote printed alongside.

“We want Google to be the third half your brain,” is attributed to Google’s Sergey Brin. “You have to make words less human and more a piece of machine,” said Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo. “I want to put a ding in the universe,” announced Steve Jobs. With their limitless aspirations to occupy our brains, to extend their influence beyond our planet and out into the Universe, one only hopes that these quotes are as empty as the self-aggrandising delusions of cult leaders. If not, we’re in trouble.

Until 10 June (ikon-gallery.org)