Webs of Water
An Online Activations Series
March 18 –
May 13, 2025
Design: Lana Jerichová
Upcoming
TBA21–Academy
Programming
TBA21–Academy, in collaboration with Tactical Tech’s “Exposing the Invisible” project and artist-researcher Federico Pérez Villoro, invites applications for “Webs of Water”, an online activation series exploring the relationship between technology infrastructures, freshwater scarcity and water distribution issues in the Caribbean.
Taking place from March to May 2025, this program invites journalists, researchers, artists, scientists, and activists to collaboratively investigate the environmental impact of tech industries on water access. Participants will analyze the physical and geopolitical dimensions of computing infrastructures through workshops and collective mapping. The series will culminate in the creation of public knowledge resources hosted on Ocean-Archive.org, inspiring further research and action.
Taking place from March to May 2025, this program invites journalists, researchers, artists, scientists, and activists to collaboratively investigate the environmental impact of tech industries on water access. Participants will analyze the physical and geopolitical dimensions of computing infrastructures through workshops and collective mapping. The series will culminate in the creation of public knowledge resources hosted on Ocean-Archive.org, inspiring further research and action.
Project Outline
The Webs of Water activation series, developed in collaboration with Tactical Tech’s “Exposing the Invisible” project and Federico Pérez Villoro, examines the intersection of technological infrastructures in the Caribbean. By combining Tactical Tech’s investigative strategies with Pérez Villoro’s research on the industrialization of water, and drawing on the diverse expertise of participants, the series aims to identify specific regional issues and expose the industries and political actions—or inactions—that cause them.
As global data networks expand, sovereignty is increasingly tied to control over information flows rather than physical territories. Yet, these infrastructures are inherently dependent on physical spaces, including oceans, which are becoming new frontiers for data processing and storage. This raises urgent questions about how tech companies can extend private interests and influence specific territories, often bypassing local regulations and increasing ecological risks.
Over the course of five online sessions, we will study the impacts of tech industries in relation to water scarcity in the Caribbean as we seek to identify the growing presence of computing infrastructure in the region —from data centers or underwater fiber optic cables to artificial intelligence training farms. Together, we will investigate the resource consumption required by these systems and critically reexamine the narratives needed to shift their current path.
This series is an invitation not only to investigate the impact of technologies on our environment but to rethink together our own complicity with extractive dynamics. Through collaborative development of counter-forensic methodologies, we aim to envision regenerative possibilities for ecosocial transformation rather than perpetuate current trajectories of capitalist extraction.
The Webs of Water activation series, developed in collaboration with Tactical Tech’s “Exposing the Invisible” project and Federico Pérez Villoro, examines the intersection of technological infrastructures in the Caribbean. By combining Tactical Tech’s investigative strategies with Pérez Villoro’s research on the industrialization of water, and drawing on the diverse expertise of participants, the series aims to identify specific regional issues and expose the industries and political actions—or inactions—that cause them.
As global data networks expand, sovereignty is increasingly tied to control over information flows rather than physical territories. Yet, these infrastructures are inherently dependent on physical spaces, including oceans, which are becoming new frontiers for data processing and storage. This raises urgent questions about how tech companies can extend private interests and influence specific territories, often bypassing local regulations and increasing ecological risks.
Over the course of five online sessions, we will study the impacts of tech industries in relation to water scarcity in the Caribbean as we seek to identify the growing presence of computing infrastructure in the region —from data centers or underwater fiber optic cables to artificial intelligence training farms. Together, we will investigate the resource consumption required by these systems and critically reexamine the narratives needed to shift their current path.
This series is an invitation not only to investigate the impact of technologies on our environment but to rethink together our own complicity with extractive dynamics. Through collaborative development of counter-forensic methodologies, we aim to envision regenerative possibilities for ecosocial transformation rather than perpetuate current trajectories of capitalist extraction.
“Webs of Water”, an online activation series is developed as part of 2024/2025 OCEAN / UNI Program.