Jon Chambers


Server Farm Caress, Emission

3D animation, sound

2019

1920x1080 HD video, 02:07



Server Farm Caress, Emission was part of my residency capstone and solo show The Practical Applications of Networks to the Body at the International Museum of Surgical Science.

For a more in depth description about the references/inspiration/research surrounding the work in the show and my residency, see the blog post I wrote for the museum here :)

Server Farm Caress, Emission playfully points to the energy consumption and activation of server farms that store and analyze our data. The camera starts within a crystalline structure and as it pans out, it's revealed that it's a hand that's attached to a server farm. After a moment, the hand starts to "breath" and "caress", while the server starts emitting black smoke. The organic hand is massaging the ridged network, producing troves of data while burning through fossil fuels. Eventually the hand stops and the server throws up errors and must restart itself.