Acid Clouds: Mapping Data Centre Topologies explores the hidden infrastructures of digital life, exposing the political, ecological and social dynamics embodied by data centres. Moving beyond the sanitized image of the ‘cloud’, it unpacks the material and ethical complexities of these often overlooked data storage structures.

This interdisciplinary research and art project is accompanied by a book edited by Niels Schrader and Jorinde Seijdel. The publication brings together essays by international authors who examine data centres through diverse lenses: artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital commons, decolonial practices, technodiversity, urban strategies, environmental impact, extractivism, algorithmic bias, and digital capitalism.

A key visual component of the project is Roel Backaert’s nighttime photography of 101 Dutch data centres—monumental images that highlight their imposing yet hidden presence and prompt questions about their unseen consequences.

Acid Clouds invites us to reflect on the ethics of our digital dependencies and poses critical questions: How can data ownership and control be reimagined? In what ways do data centres shape identities and social norms? How might we resist the extractive forces of digital capitalism and envision a more equitable digital future? The project challenges audiences to critically engage with the invisible yet pervasive infrastructures that shape contemporary life.

Text contributions by Ramon Amaro & Sheena Calvert, Annet Dekker, Mél Hogan, Michiel van Iersel & Mark Minkjan, Marina Otero Verzier, Ned Rossiter, Niels Schrader, Jorinde Seijdel, Füsun Türetken, Waag (Marleen Stikker, Max Kortlander and Sander van der Waal), and photos by Roel Backaert

link to the project website: www.acidclouds.org