As extractivism has intensified, some see it as defining the current stage of capitalism. Driven by massive autonomous extraction machines, disseminated through algorithmically organized logistical systems, extraction both depends on media systems and provides the minerals that make digital machines possible. This conference will examine the interaction of extraction, capitalism, and media.

Convened by Zeynep Çelik Alexander, Brian Larkin, and Debashree Mukherjee.

December 13, 5pm, 807 Schermerhorn

Keynote by Martín Aboleda, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile: "International Technological Subordination: The Geopolitical Economy of Circuits of Extraction"

December 14, 10am-5pm, 807 Schermerhorn
Workshop

10am Breakfast

Panel I

Chair: Reinhold Martin (Columbia University)
11:00 Introduction
11:10 Rosalind C. Morris, (Columbia University): “Roads Paved and (Not) Taken: Infrastructures of Extraction and the Extraction of Infrastructure in South Africa”
11:30 Rafico Ruiz (Canadian Center for Architecture): “Ikiaqqijjut (‘travelling through layers’): The Angiqatigingniq Internet Network and the Promise of Extraction in Mary River, Nunavut”
11:50 Reinhold Martin comments, followed by discussion

12:30 Lunch

Stronach Lounge, Schermerhorn 8^th Floor

Panel II

Chair: Irina Kalinka (Columbia University)
1:30 Janna Israel (Princeton University Art Museum): “Imagining an Early Modern Empire of Minerals”
1:50 Tamara Kneese (Data & Society): “Death by Algorithm: The Case for AI Abolition”
2:10 Irina Kalinka comments, followed by discussion

2:50 Coffee break

Panel III

Chair: Jennifer Wenzel (Columbia University)

3:30 Nadine Chan (University of Toronto): “Cinematic Alchemy: Extraction, Logistics, and Process in the Colonial Industrial Film”
3:50 Patrick Brodie (University College Dublin): “Environmental Datafication, Resource-Making, and the Frontiers of Green Capitalism”
4:10 Jennifer Wenzel comments, followed by discussion

5:00 Final Remarks

Followed by reception in Stronach Lounge, Schermerhorn 8th Floor

This event is part of Extractive Media. See here to learn more and view all related events. Please email [email protected] to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.

RSVP required, please email [email protected]. Registered guests not affiliated with Columbia University will receive instructions about how to receive guest passes to access campus.