Data Centers

Hannes Rickli

ISBN 10: 3037786450 / ISBN 13: 9783037786451

Published by Lars Muller Publishers, CH, 2020

About this Item

Questions of privacy, borders, and nationhood are increasingly shaping the way we think about all things digital. Data Centers brings together essays and photographic documentation that analyze recent and ongoing developments. Taking Switzerland as an example, the book takes a look at the country's data centers, law firms, corporations, and government institutions that are involved in the creation, maintenance, and regulation of digital infrastructures. Beneath the official storyline- Switzerland's moderate climate, political stability, and relatively clean energy mix-the book uncovers a much more varied and sometimes contradictory set of narratives.

Seller Inventory # LU-9783037786451

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Data Centers
• Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers, CH
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3037786450
• ISBN 13: 9783037786451
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

An investigation into the complex politics of data centers, through photographs and essays

Often hidden in plain sight, data centers are the backbone of our internet. They store, communicate and transport the information we produce and access daily along invisible pathways. The industry of data centers comes entwined with an iconography of generic, bland and sterile architectures: placeless, inconspicuous, anonymous structures―buildings, cable ducts, junction boxes and landing sites that could be anywhere, generating virtual infrastructures that are both everywhere and nowhere.

Bringing together photography, essays and case studies, Data Centers explores the entanglements of place, past and digital infrastructure, taking Switzerland as its example. Beyond the official story―Switzerland’s favorable alpine climate, relatively low energy costs, the political stability of the area and its strategic positioning in Central Europe―Data Centers uncovers the narratives of techno-nationalist aspirations; of Swiss Chinese interdependence; of deregulation and once-almighty telecommunications enterprises; of cold-war legacies and the multi-billion dollar business of data security.