An Apple a day: Listening to data centre site selection through a sonospheric investigation

This article considers media infrastructures as an interweaving between geology, space, data and affect through a series of artworks produced by the author using a research methodology called sonospheric investigation. Images of supersize data centres isolated in cold Nordic climates are prevalent within the tech media but the increased demand for so-called ‘Edge’ centres have put a strain on communities across a number of locations in Western Europe and North America. This article reflects upon the authors own field research and arts practice in Derrydonnell Forest, County Galway, Ireland; listening to the multiple communities —organic, inorganic, human and nonhuman— affected by the process, presence and presencing of data centres.