Questions of privacy, borders, and nationhood are increasingly shaping the way we think about all things digital. Data Centers brings together essays and photographic documentation that analyze recent and ongoing developments. Taking Switzerland as an example, the book takes a look at the country's data centers, law firms, corporations, and government institutions that are involved in the creation, maintenance, and regulation of digital infrastructures. Beneath the official storyline- Switzerland's moderate climate, political stability, and relatively clean energy mix-the book uncovers a much more varied and sometimes contradictory set of narratives.

Computer-based technologies for the production and analysis of data have been an integral part of biological research since the 1990s at the latest. This not only applies to genomics and its offshoots but also to less conspicuous subsections such as ecology. But little consideration has been given to how this new technology has changed research practically. How and when do data become questionable? To what extent does necessary infrastructure influence the research process? What status is given to software and algorithms in the production and analysis of data? These questions are discussed by the biologists Philipp Fischer and Hans Hofmann, the philosopher Gabriele Gramelsberger, the historian of science and biology Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, the science theorist Christoph Hoffmann, and the artist Hannes Rickli. The conditions of experimentation in the digital sphere are examined in four chapters--"Data," "Software," "Infrastructure," and "in silico"--in which the different perspectives of the discussion partners complement one another. Rather than confirming any particular point of view, Natures of Data deepens understanding of the contemporary basis of biological research.

In the work of artist and artistic researcher Hannes Rickli, video and audio recordings originating from research in scientific laboratories (videograms) play an important role. Videograms are a category of moving images produced in an operative context by measuring cameras and microphones. This kind of audio-visual commodity has so far been largely neglected by artists as well as by image scientists. For his work-in-progress Spillover Rickli has put together since 1992 vast collection of such audio-visual lab reports. Rickli has also initiated also a research program on this topic at Zurich University of the Arts. In close exchange with biologists and image scientists Rickli investigated the material to enhanced his understanding of and work with it for his artistic project. This resulted in a series of video-installations that were shown for the first time in an exhibition Zurich in autumn 2010. The book Videograms documents both, the video installations and their mise en scene at the museum, as well as the context in which the original material was produced in the laboratory. It also includes essays by scholars in image and cultural sciences and by scientists.