Hostile Architecture

HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE is a live audiovisual performance by snake_case which investigates the hidden topography of digital infrastructure. It uses visual material directly derived from 'dark site' - stock footage and video files from various societal sources - which are housed in physical datacentres. The ongoing investigation by snake_case into the relationship between the ephemeral nature of digital data and the material reality of the servers which sustain it, is furthered in this work.

HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE focuses on the aestheticisation of infrastructure, treating computational architecture and industry and objects of artistic enquiry rather than mere practical utility. Through an ongoing archival practice, snake_case recontextualises internet media, transforming thousands of online sources into a focused meditation on digital accumulation and long-term knowledge storage. Working from a hypothesis that the sum of all digital information forms an unseen lanscape, HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE attempts to map this virtual terrain.