Data Centered

We are a transnational art and research collective. Between 2021 and 2024 a team of artists and researchers have collaborated on projects focused on the contemporary development of data centers in Africa. Approaching the data center as a dimension of media infrastructure, the project investigates the materialities of data centers in Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Capetown/Johannesburg, including issues of ecology, ownership, culture, and socio-economic relations. The team conceptualizes “data centering” as the process by which lands, resources, labor, and publics are reorganized to support the global data economy. The project will result in a series of individual and collaborative artworks, including an exhibition at the Lagos Biennial in 2024.