Sacred Grounds

The social, economic, and environmental consequences of the production of media technologies are mostly invisible in our everyday lives, yet immense. Located in the Zeche Zollern – a historical site of raw material extraction and energy production – Refrakt’s augmented reality installation brings the analog effects of our digital actions into focus and encourages a critical examination of our behaviour.

Whereas at the beginning of industrialization raw material extraction and production took place on our own doorstep, today the resources for digital technology are mined at the other end of the world in mostly precarious conditions. Those devices that connect us to the digital world increasingly resemble a black box whose manufacture and operation are obscured in order to maintain a magical techno-positivist aura. But will your own smartphone still feel the same after a look behind the scenes of the outwardly clean digital world?

The installation consists of 3D models of ores which contain the most common minerals used in digital devices. Created using photogrammetry with samples from the Mineralogical Museum of Technische Universität Berlin.

AR Installation, 2022
Refrakt Collective

For FUTUR21
Zeche Zollern, Dortmund, DE

Curational Team:
Clemens Walter
Nada Schroer
Patrick Blümel

ongoing