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DATA_FIELDS


spatial applications of digital landscapes

Fall 2023
Instructor: Mitchell Squire
Partners: Sophia Allen, Kyle Guenther, Mircea Nastase
Keywords: Data Extraction, Algorithms, Hybridization


2023 Kocimski Super Review Finalist
2024 Substance Design Forum Finalist

Infrastructures such as algorithms, the “cloud,” black boxes, and artificial intelligence support extractive activities to obtain power and control within society, oftentimes under the guise of technological advancement and modern convenience. Thus, contemporary technologies are not neutral; we must reconsider their implications in our lives and become aware of the predetermined logic of our machines and processes.

These technologies have fueled Silicon Valley’s tech giants, which require the outsourcing of data storage, leaving smaller communities, like the Des Moines metro area, to bear the weight of these decisions. These data centers engage architectural conventions to plan, extract, and build physical manifestations of the “cloud” on the earth. As material mining continues to extract physical resources to construct the seemingly non-physical “cloud,” corporate interests and big data continue to overpower the aspirations, land, and resources of less dense communities and repress underground data infrastructures that operate today.

Modern human civilization has continually operated under the belief that technology will save us from ourselves and our actions. Given that contemporary systems were created by individuals with their own biases and coupled with the anonymity of modern technology, it becomes difficult to ensure that these systems designed to improve our lives will not harm our futures. This investigation aims to reframe our relationship with data to embrace our virtual identities that are gaining more presence in our physical world.



     Current Condition                                               Proposed Condition


DOCUMENTING EXTRACTION




Extraction Journal of Bay Area + Des Moines





Bay Area Extraction Artifacts

Extractive Artifact Metadata

EXTRACTIVE IMAGINARIES








Extraction Machine - The Black Box Algorithm

The lack of clarity and traceability makes the black box one of the most threatening extractive technologies to the wealth of information the cloud/imaginary provides.

Extractive Lenses


Deauthorizing the Black Box

DATA EXTRACTION PROCESS


PHASE 1: COLLECTION








Phase 2: Storage












Step 3: Data Collection









Step 4: Data Application














Experiments with the pixel as an architectural form.






HYBRID PERFORMANCE



















As our physical and virtual identities become increasingly fused, engaging our bodies to reconnect our presence in the hybrid landscapes we occupy becomes imperative. Performance is then used as a means to explore the potentials of the human body in virtual landscapes.