UNDER THE CLOUD:Infrastructural Studies in Southwest China
Join Arts Technologies Curator, Eva Jäger, independent curator Iris Long & HE Zike, and media scholar Kevin Ziyu LIU as they present Under the Cloud, a new publication compiling research gathered during their field study in the Guizhou province of Southwest China.
This event will be streamed live on @SerpentineUK’s Twitch.
In May 2023 a group of artists, curators, media theorists, and anthropologists travelled to Guizhou. The province is one of the eight national ‘big data hubs’ under the ‘Data in the East, Computing in the West program,’ the Chinese strategic approach to data that aims to leverage the distinct advantages of each region toward technological growth. The group, led by curator Iris Long and artist HE Zike, visited key sites* of computational infrastructure (the hardware, software, and networking components that collectively enable computers to run and process data) that have emerged in Guizhou province over the last decade. These explorations investigated the real-world implications of techno-industrial policy that increasingly aims to optimize data and computing capabilities to adopt artificial intelligence.
For Iris and Zike, the goal is to develop and test a fieldwork methodology for artists within infrastructural studies–a discipline that draws from technology, ethnography, and environmental studies. The week-long trip, documented in a new publication (in English and Chinese) published by Serpentine Arts Technologies, shares details from the trip including this fieldwork and written reflections by the participants. More information about the project can be found at temporalstack.com.
*Sites visited include Huawei Cloud Gui’an Data Center, Gui’an Supercomputing Center, Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Data Processing, The Big Data Security Exhibition Centre, Guiyang Meteorological Bureau, Guiyang National Reference Climate Station, Key Laboratory of Information and Computing Science Guizhou Province, Guizhou Cloud Big Data Group, Big Data Expo Guyang, Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, Yunding Wind Farm of Power China Guizhou Engineering Co, LTD, Huawei Guizhou Cloud Development Innovation Center
Participants
CAO Fei, LIU Chuang, Kevin Ziyu LIU, Payne ZHU, SHI Qing, WANG Hongzhe, XU Haomin, YU Weiying, ZHOU Tao, ZHAO Xiaoxiao, Eva Jäger, XU Chuan, Tim ZUO and Gary Zhexi ZHANG.
Biographies
Iris Long
Iris Long is a writer and independent curator with a research focus on megastructures of science and technology in China, the psycho-geography of techno-science, and plural cosmologies. She iss a 2022-2023 Berggruen Fellow and a Swissnex Fellow.
Kevin Ziyu LIU
Kevin Ziyu LIU received his PhD in Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. His research focuses on media studies, infrastructure, and cultural politics in contemporary China.
HE Zike
HE Zike is a media artist. By encompassing personal memories in her research and fieldwork, her practice illuminates the interplay of time, mundane lives and the technological environment.
Eva Jäger
Eva Jäger is Curator of Arts Technologies. She commissions artists working with advanced technologies and is a collaborator in teams designing novel approaches to, workflows for and philosophies of emerging tech. Eva is also Co-Investigator of the Creative AI Lab (Serpentine R&D Platform and King’s College London).
Ruth Waters
Ruth Waters is a producer, curator and visual artist. She is currently Producer at Serpentine Arts Technologies and co-curator of moving image commissions at Shoreditch Arts Club with Tony Tremlett. She was previously Creative Producer of Outernet Arts commissioning immersive artworks for The Now Building, London
2024年1月，蛇形画廊艺术与科技策展人Eva Jager，独立策展人、云下贵州项目的发起者龙星如和贺子珂，媒介研究者刘子瑜将会共同加入「云下贵州」出版物的线上发布，这本新的出版物将关于中国西南地区的计算基础设施研究。这个现场发布将会在蛇形画廊@SerpentineUK的Twitch频道上进行。
2023年5月，一群艺术家、策展人、媒介学者和人类学家再次来到了贵州。这个省份是中国“东数西算“框架下的8个大数据枢纽之一，“东数西算“是一个关注地区间技术增长的项目。这个走访小组由策展人龙星如和艺术家贺子珂带领，访问了贵州当地过去十年间萌生的一系列运算基础设施（支持“大数据“运行的一系列硬件、软件、网络化节点）。这些走访也探索了科技-工业政策的在地实施，以及一系列优化数据与运算能力以支撑包括人工智能在内的诸多新技术的举措是如何发生的。
参与者
Eva Jäger，徐川，左振廷，张哲熙
发布会参与者
龙星如
龙星如是一个写作者和独立策展人，她的研究重点是中国的科技基础设施，科技的心理地理和多重宇宙学。她是博古睿学者和Swissnex Fellow.
刘子瑜
贺子珂是一名媒体艺术家。她的研究和田野工作关联起私人记忆，在时间、平凡生活和技术环境之间回响。
Eva Jäger
Eva Jäger 是一个艺术与科技方向的策展人。她委任艺术家针对前沿技术进行创作，也致力于研究创新科技哲学。她同时也是创造性人工智能实验室（蛇形画廊R&D平台和伦敦国王学院）的研究员。
Ruth Waters
Ruth Waters 是一个制作人，视觉艺术家和策展人。她目前是蛇形画廊艺术与科技项目的制作人，和Shorditch Arts Club动态影像委任的联合策展人。她曾经也是Outernet Arts的创意制作人，委任一系列的沉浸式艺术作品。