Cloudspotting, Studienwoche Theorie, BFA
Institut Kunst, Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst, FHNW Basel
10.-13.03.2020

The cloud has become, like James Bridle discussed in his book "New Dark Age. Technology and the End of the Future", the central metaphor of the Internet, if not of our time. We store our data in the cloud, but we also move central computing power to this place, of which we know neither where it actually is nor how it works. As ephemeral and intangible as the cloud is, the clearer and more real-world its effects are: Cloud server farms need vast amounts of electricity and water - and have a negative impact on the climate, for example, through their high CO2 emissions. The cloud influences how (geo)politics is made and shows us what current critical infrastructures are. In this course we will focus on the topic of the cloud as a metaphor and as reality, we will examine the nebulous nature of the cloud using selected theoretical texts and artistic works. And we will look into the clouds ourselves.