Date: 27.-31.10.
Room: 6K.04
Abstract
Starting from the collaborative work of the artist Vladan Joler and the researcher Kate Crawford, we investigate the techno-politics of AI long various points in the chain of production, use and disposal. We use the framework of “extractivism” to investigate the conditions and consequences of mining, labour, data, and e-waste. We use both academic research and artistic practice to collaboratively investigate and reflect on the aesthetics of engaging with such planetary processes.
Requirements:
- 80% Prescence
- Participation and independent research
- Visual representation of research, must include one item not found on the internet
Futher Resources:
Monday
Overview over the week
Thinking about the Cloud
- AWS Cloud Outage, 20.10.2025 Research Article: Ookla.com
- Barlow, John Perry. 1996. A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. http://www.eff.org/pub/Publications/John_Perry_Barlow/barlow_0296.declaration.
- Hu, Tung-Hui. 2015. A Prehistory of the Cloud. The MIT Press. Read: Introduction, p. I-XXIV
- Andrew Wilson: Workers Leaving the Googleplex, 11 Min. 2011
- Andrew Wilson: ScanOps, 2012 - ongoing
- Art from Outside the Googleplex: An Interview with Andrew Norman Wilsonby Louis Doulas, rhizome.org, 2012-05-14
Mapping AI: the case of Amazon Echo
- Amazon advertising campaign, “All-New Amazon Echo”, September 27, 2017
- Kate Crawford & Vladan Joler: Anatomy of an AI System (2018) (PDF)
- Reading: Anatomy of an AI System The Amazon Echo as an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources. https://anatomyof.ai
Selecting one area for further investigation
- First step in further research: Read relavant chapter in Crawford, Kate. 2021. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press.
Tuesday
Deeper into mapping with Vladan Joler
- Vladan Joler Internet Map of Serbia, 2015
- Vladan Joler. Facebook Algorithmic Factory, 2016
- Vladan Joler. New Extractivism. https://extractivism.online/ (Video & Map)
- Vladan Joler, Gordan Savičić, Felix Stalder: Infrastructure of a Migratory Bird., 2022-25
- Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler: Caculating Empires. (2023), Exhibition View Fondazione Prada, Nov 2023-Jan 2024).
- Daphne Dragona: Mapping Exploitation / Empowering Knowledge. Critical mapmaking and the work of Vladan Joler. p.7-14 in: Joler, Vladan et al. Black Box Cartography: A Critical Cartography of the Internet and Beyond. Limited edition of 250. Brescia: Krisis Publishing, 2023. [ Local Copy
- Regine Debatty. Exploitation Forensics. Interview with Vladan Joler. We Make Money, Not Art. 2017
15:00: Zoom Conversation with Vladan Joler
Research time
Wednesday
Other Approaches to Mapping Techno-politics
- Hans Haacke. Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, a Real-Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971, 1971 Withney Museum
- Nevius, James. 2015. “The Artist and the Slumlord: A Photographer’s 1970s Quest to Unmask an NYC Real Estate Family.” Curbed, September 2.
- Hobbs, Robert Carleton, eds. 2004. Mark Lombardi - Global Networks. Third printing. Independent Curators International.
- Mark Lomdardi.Mark Lombardi – Kunst und Konspiration. Arte 2011, 57 Min. Youtube, Youtube. english MIZ online Video Archiv
- Firth, Rhiannon. 2015. “Critical Cartography - The Occupied Times.” The Occupied Times, April 23. https://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=13771.
- Holmes, Brian and Bureau d'Etudes., eds. An Atlas of Agendas: Mapping the Power, Mapping the Commons. Second edition. Onomatopee, 88.1. Eindhoven: Lecturis, 02.
Parks, Lisa, and Nicole Starosielski, eds. 2015. Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures. The Geopolitics of Information. University of Illinois Press. (read introduction)
Mapping Infrastructures: Cables
- Long history of cable infrastructure. https://www.submarinecablemap.com
- Trevor Paglen: Landing Sites, 2020 Undersea Cables, 2020)
- Ingrid Burrington: Submarine Cable Taps, 2014
Mapping Infrastructures: Datacenters Switzerland
- Keller, Tamara, Julian Schmidli, and Pascal Albisser. 2025. “KI treibt Rechenzentren-Boom in der Schweiz.” Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), June 24.
- Select work for presentation in class.
Visit: Lauren Lee McCarthy: AUTO Münsterhof. Münsterhof Zurich
Thursday
Dammbeck, Lutz, dir. 2004. Das Netz. Documentary. 121 min
,
Time for Research
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Outside of module
Stranger than Fiction. Symposium @ Cabaret Voltaire
…
18.15 Joseph Vogl: Kapitalismus und Fantasy (Moderation: Christine Lötscher und Sylvia Sasse)
20.15 Total Refusal: Sons and True Sons (Live-Gaming-Lecture-Performance)
Friday
Time for Research
Presentation
Film: Dylan Reibing. The End of the Internet. Documentary, 87 Min, 2025