Prototype I: Water & Wires (2022)
Whilst it’s a common perception that the internet and AI are intangible, they are in fact the biggest, and heaviest machines ever built, reliant on a gigantic infrastructure made from oil, steel, rare minerals and water.
In 2022, Google, Microsoft, and Meta used more than 2 billion cubic meters of water for cooling and electricity, which is more than double the amount used by Denmark in a year. And they keep getting thirstier. To keep the more data and compute need more water.
The Water and Wire prototype is an interactive installation that aims to make this relationship tangible between natural and data flows tangible. When touched, each pool of water triggers a sound sample of either a sonified data stream (eg: Wikipedia edits and climate data), or a sound relating to natural flows (eg: water and blood). The combination of electronics and water creates an uncomfortable connection, and the use of touch makes it playful way to rematerialise the dematerialised.
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The prototype was made at the SÍM Residency in Reykjavik in 2022, and was inspired by Iceland’s geothermally powered data centres. Prime examples of global technology infrastructure being powered directly from renewable sources, they are set in a landscape onto which the effects of climate change are starkly visible. Since it was made, generative AI has become a ubiquitous technology and the issue of water usage for data centres and microchip production has become ever more pressing. As of 2024, rice farmers in southern Taiwan have not been allowed to plant their crops for the third year in a row as the water is needed for the production of semiconductors. Instead, the government is paying them subsidies. The Data Vampires podcast have documented the real impacts for communities living alongside these infrastructures.
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Data Sound Samples:
Sonified live stream of edits made to Wikipedia sampled from Hatnote, created by Stephen LaPorte and Mahmoud Hashemi. Bells indicate additions to Wikipedia entries, string plucks subtractions, and string swells indicate for new users as they join the site.
String quartet playing rising climate temperature data since the 1880s. Written by Daniel Crawford, performed by students at the University of Minnesota.
Natural flow samples:
Water: Rain/ Rowing
Breath: Breathing & Singing
Blood: Inside a heart
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