Points of Presence

Fish, Adam Richard (2018) Points of Presence. Screenworks, 8 (2). ISSN 2514-3123

Abstract

Adam Fish’s film Points of Presence exposes the materialities of digital technologies and their vast networked infrastructures operating above and below the earth. The film employs aerial and terrestrial videographic approaches to map the physical reality of the internet and bring into view the sources of material power. By revealing data centers, undersea cables and other unseen or overlooked technical architectures that afford contemporary communication, Points of Presence shows the rich complexity and precarity of the North Atlantic region’s intranet infrastructure. In so doing, this contribution grapples with the wider problem of visualising information flows and, through intentionally leaving out the human voice, attempts to present an alternative non-anthropomorphic perspective to its subject.