ishabana:
This is reversing the role of the boards in the concept. The boards should act on their own because they should symbolize electronic parts interacting with the surrounding on their own,
I do realize that it would be a reversal of the role. I don't see anything wrong with that and I see a lot of advantages
The essence of symbolism is that it appears to be something without actually needing to be that something.
Even if you don't like the idea of pretence I see nothing wrong with the standalone Arduino getting its data from the PC rather than directly from the internet. The internet is just some other guy's PC. Why would anyone viewing the exhibit either know or care how the data gets to the standalone Arduino?
...R