German design studio //////////fur//// have created an interesting new lighting installation designed to create tension between the physical and online worlds, simultaneously reaffirming the increasingly close relationship between the two. The OIS (One-way Interaction Sculpture) is a lightbulb that can only be switched on digitally, via the internet, and off physically, in the real world.

Created for the Art on Your Screen 2014 project, OIS consists of a real 60W light bulb and light switch as well as their virtual counterparts, which sit as an online interface on the AOYS website. Using the undirectional toggle switch only those who are online can switch the lightbulb on and only those who are standing by the real-world switch can turn it off again.

//////////fur//// state that the OIS’ design nods to Claude E. Shannon’s mathematical communication concepts of the "ultimate machine" in an era of ubiquitous computing and virtual friendship.