In the Shadow of the Cloud
Reimagining the Technical Landscapes of Northern Virginia
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IN THE SHADOW OF THE CLOUD:
REIMAGINING THE TECHNICAL LANDSCAPES OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
EXHIBITION
MON, SEPT 08 – FRI, OCT 03
GALLERY TALK & RECEPTION
MON, SEPT 15, 5PM
CAMPBELL ELMALEH GALLERY
The history of development in Northern Virginia is entangled with the growth and expansion of data infrastructures. This exhibition presents work by UVA School of Architecture's MIST lab that recounts the histories and trajectories that have contributed to the region's emergence as the world’s largest data market over the past five decades, and speculates on the next fifty years through multimedia design interventions. Through a series of propositions, this work reconsiders and reimagines the intertwined relationship between infrastructure and the future momentum of urban life, and maps the intricate ties and continued dependencies that our daily lives have formed with technical landscapes. By examining three prominent spatial typologies—data centers, highway interchanges, and quarries—along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, speculative design provocations reveal moments of failure and triumph, efficiency and struggle, degradation and repair, and respite and rebirth in the technical landscapes of Northern Virginia. The exhibition features new photographic work by Stephen Voss.
The Media, Infrastructure, Speculative Territories Laboratory (MIST lab), directed by Ali Fard, explores emerging media and infrastructural systems as both the sites and means of speculative design research on urbanization.
Supported by the Office of the Dean and the Environmental Institute.
