Data Centers: Edges of a Wired Nation

by Monika Dommann, Hannes Rickli, Max Stadler (Editor)

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.

With contributions by Scherwin Bajka, Silvia Berger Ziauddin, Sascha Deboni, Monika Dommann, Kijan Espahangizi, Lena Kaufmann, Moritz Mähr, Ioana Marinica, Fatih Öz, Giorgio Scherrer, Renate Schubert, Max Stadler, Andrés Villa-Torres, Emil Zopfi

344 pages, Paperback

Published October 14, 2020

Reviews

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a broad-reaching anthology of essays and photography about the history and culture of digital data and Switzerland. The essays are varied, from a history of Swiss-Chinese relations in data centres to an essay about destruction of hard drives to keep data secure. Each is well outlined and goes into depth on the specific topic. The photographs are simultaneously stimulating, giving a deep dive into the bizarre centre for supercomputing in the Swiss mountains or the stomach-churning walls of CPUs used in a blockchain currency mining facility.

The book design is also really nice, although a couple of the essays suffer from some very poor information graphics that are misleading and hard to read. A couple of the essays were a little inaccessible, perhaps down to translation issues, but overall they were enjoyable and varied, and offered a cultural archaeology of data in a unique and enjoyable format.