FLESH + DATA

Interspecies Dynamics / Agriculture / Speculative Design

Location: Orkney, United Kingdom
Status: Concept • 2019
Team: Ali Cadir, Zaki Goussous
Role: Design & Research, Graphics

In preparation of a project delving into the evolution of meat and our relationship with it, this conceptual model was developed to establish the ideological context.

Drawing an analogy between slaughterhouses and data centres as facilities that perform a crucial function of society (one the production of meat, the other the processing of virtual data), the question is raised regarding their secrecy – despite their importance, the physical presence of both facilities are deliberately shielded from the public eye. Digging further into these conditions reveals two establishments that, to some extent, facilitate in the dehumanisation and commoditisation of the product which they process: one the flesh of livestock and one the private data of the individual.

Breaking the image of a neat, sealed off black box that is a server rack and showing the very personal and flesh-driven processes that occur within, the resulting model features a visceral chunk of meat that pumps ‘blood’ through a series of ‘servers’.