5 - Beneath

Summary

vbLarge-scale distributed technological systems extend beyond, and they are in the atmosphere, like a fog or like mist. This is all built on multiple layers and arrangements of infrastructure. Technologies of various age, installed for various reasons and with various purposes, are combined. Older constructions and systems influence the way newer systems are built and organized. Infrastructures are hidden beneath streets and floors, inside walls and away from sight. The word ‘infra’ in ‘infrastructures’ is Latin and means below, under or beneath. Spatially, infrastructures are, of course, not always below, but they are often persistently staying under the threshold of attention. Under, infra, sub. Subliminal.

Infrastructures

Sometimes infrastructures are visible. Intentionally showcased. Large factories, constructions and facilities built to function, but also built to impress (Nye 1996; Willim 2005b). Think again about the TV towers in the middle of cities, broadcasting buildings, huge power plants or enormous data centres (Ericson and Riegert 2010). Some of these are prominently visible. Anchor points. Parts of corporations and organizations, as well as parts of infrastructures. Even if these structures may be colossal, they are merely small parts of the systems. Like beacons along wide-ranging routes and networks. Water towers looking like mushrooms, visible fruiting bodies revealing that beneath there are enormously vast mycelium-like, rhizomatic systems of pipes, tubes and ducts. Our societies are full of similar fruiting bodies. Beneath, larger structures are hidden.

Despite these exposed buildings, infrastructures are often not considered. Mostly they are below the threshold of attention for most people. Sometimes they appear as cables and connectors that surface from below (Starosielski 2015). Sometimes they appear as enigmatic constructions, sometimes as points to engage with. Microphones, screens, buttons or maybe small, symmetrically organized holes in walls and sockets, tempting people to insert equipment, to connect and to charge. These are minute yet important points of engagement. Noticeable. Something people might look for. Once again like fruiting bodies, only smaller ones, that capture the attention of mushroom pickers. But the workings, the rhizomatic arrangements past these points are often overlooked and out of reach.