Extractive Frontiers: From Arctic, Green Energy to Israeli Data Mining

Extractive Frontiers examines a landscape marked by various forms of resource extraction through the lens of Sulitjelma, a former copping mining town in Northern Norway. The mine closed in 1991 when production turned unprofitable, but since the “green transition” – or rather, the electrification of our society – requires much more copper than is currently being mined, plans to reopen the old mine in Sulitjelma are in the making.

At the same time, cheap energy from the local hydroelectric power plant has attracted new forms of extraction. An energy-intensive server farm housing Artificial Intelligence has taken up residence in the old machine halls. AI is a technology that is based on extracting massive amounts of data – also known as “data mining”. An Israeli AI-based security company is reportedly among the server farm’s customers. Israeli tech companies and the security industry often grow out of military infrastructure, where they develop dual-use technologies that automate the oppression of Palestinians. The strong relationship between the military sector and security-tech industry, which has boomed economically since October 2023, is thoroughly documented in the UN report “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide”. In the exhibition, we speculate on the frontiers of extraction as connections made by global late capitalism: connections between seemingly disparate geographies of Arctic, “green” energy and Israeli data mining; between the remains of Sulitjelma and the ruins of Gaza.

The exhibition consists of three works: One work is a series of digital image weavings in copper, whose red copper thread connects landscapes characterized by extractivism and destruction. The second work is a spatial sound work that juxtaposes sound recordings from the server farm with the sound of local waterfalls – two different types of white noise, where one generates “green” power for the other, who in turn contributes to global warming due to its energy-intensive activity. Third, a series of video recordings and a digital 3D model of the area are shown, which conveys a landscape operationalized as a raw material and resource object. Additionally, a spoken text reflects on Sulitjelma’s history and the discourse of extractivism.