Challenge #2
Environmental Impact of Data Centers
Problem Statement:
Often, we are not aware of the footprint of our digital world. Can we measure the environmental cost of data centres, streaming platforms, posting and scrolling as well as digital art or our everyday digital life? Are there any other solutions?
Challenge description:
The challenge is to innovate in the realm of digital data storage. This project seeks to address the significant environmental impact of traditional data centres, which consume vast amounts of energy and contribute to electronic waste. How can we convert the binary code to minimise carbon footprint and support ecological preservation? Is DNA data storage possible? Is it a solution? The aim of the project is to highlight the urgent need to address climate change and promote sustainability in digital practices. This challenge aligns with Studiotopia II by merging art and science to create sustainable solutions, embodying the Symbiocene era’s goals of inclusivity, resilience, and critical narratives about our world’s future.
Residency characteristics:
The residency will be supported by LAZNIA CCA, which is one of the most significant cultural institutions in Poland with strong experience in the art and science field. In 2011, a special programme was established, targeting hybrid spheres where these two disciplines encounter each other through a variety of activities.
Within the residency, we would like to focus on the environmental cost of data storage. How can we change our habits to reduce the digital carbon footprint and support ecological preservation? What are the possible solutions? We would like to invite artists to discuss and speculate on these issues and their impact on digital art and artistic archives.
The methodology of the residency will be developed in cooperation with LAZNIA CCA’s curatorial team and the LCC members. We plan to organise at least two in-person meetings, which could take place at LAZNIA CCA, in a laboratory, or in any location connected to the project. The results of the residency are not determined at this stage. However, a group exhibition is planned for the first quarter of 2026, providing an opportunity to present the outcomes of the process in any form defined by the artist and scientist.
Established scientist bio:
Thomas Heinis
Thomas Heinis, PhD, is a Reader in Computing at Imperial College London since September 2014 leading a team of researchers. He is currently also a Visiting Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Dr. Heinis is renowned for research and development of systems in large-scale data management systems as well as storage and parallel databases in general. His research particularly focuses on all aspects of data including analysis, visualisation and storage. Storing data in DNA, i.e., DNA data storage is currently his major research effort. Dr. Heinis received an MSc and PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. During his studies he also received several fellowships, including a Fulbright fellowship (Purdue University).
LCC:
Astrida Neimanis
is a cultural theorist working at the intersection of feminism and environmental change. Her research focuses on bodies, water, and weather, and how they can help us reimagine justice, care, responsibility and relation in the time of climate catastrophe. Her most recent book, Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology is a call for humans to examine our relationships to oceans, watersheds, and other aquatic life forms from the perspective of our own primarily watery bodies, and our ecological, poetic, and political connections to other bodies of water. Astrida’s research practice includes collaborations with artists, writers, scientists, makers, educational institutions, and communities, often in the form of experimental public pedagogies. Her writing can be found in numerous academic journals and edited collections, artistic exhibitions and catalogues, and online media. She is currently Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Feminist Environmental Humanities at UBC Okanagan on unceded syilx territory.
Ewa Bińczyk
works at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland. She deals with the rethoric of the Anthropocene, environmental philosophy and ecological economics of degrowth. She is the author of several books. The Epoch of Man. The Rhetoric and Lethargy of the Anthropocene was nominated for the Dlugosz Prize in Poland and also indicated as one of the “20 books to read in the 21st century” in 2019. In 2022, the book was published in Russian, in 2023 in Ukrainian. Scholarship holder of the Fulbright Foundation (2007). She was a visiting scholar at Harvard University (Department of History of Science) in 2016. In 2021, she co-hosted the seminar at the European Forum in Alpbach, Austria. She is the Member of the Council of Greenpeace Polska, the Forecast Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Council of Experts of the Climate Coalition in Poland and the Council of the Climate Education Foundation. She cooperates with the Foundation for the Student Aid Fund (Eco-coalition for Eco-University).
Anita Lewandowska
graduated in Chemical Oceanography at the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography of the University of Gdańsk. She is a scientist, academic teacher and tutor. Since 2012 she is a professor of the University of Gdańsk. Her scientific interests revolve around pollution of the natural environment, especially the atmosphere, and processes occurring at the sea-atmosphere interface. Her research priorities include identifying the causes of air and sea pollution and the resulting consequences for the natural environment. She is interested in the role of pollution in shaping climate change, as well as their impact on organisms living in the sea, human health and their quality of life. Anita Lewandowska’s achievements include nearly 100 publications and scientific essays on national and international scale. She participated in the organization of numerous seminars, symposia, scientific and teaching conferences. She was a delegate of the Ministry of Science and Informatization in the Management Committee COST 729 and a partner in many scientific projects. Since 2018, she is an expert of the International Maritime Organization in the national section for prevention and response to PPR pollution. She actively cooperates with the scientific community in Poland and around the world. In 2020, she became a member of the accreditation committee and an expert in the Accreditation of Study Programs at the World Maritime University (Malmö, Sweden). As part of cooperation with the industry (WIRan Sp. z o. o.), she carries out research on the implementation of a universal device for measuring air quality. From the beginning of her scientific career, she has also been associated with the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Regional Atmosphere Monitoring Agency Foundation. She is very keen on promoting learning and personal development among the young generation and teachers. She supervised several dozen master’s and licentiate students as well as two doctors. She also took an active part in creating Tutoring at the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography of the University of Gdańsk. In addition to the UG Rector’s Awards, in 2015, she was awarded the National Education Medal, in 2018, she received the Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongowiusz distinction of Teacher of the Year and in 2024, she received a silver cross for merits.
Residency hosting institution
Laznia Contemporary Arts Center (CCA), Poland
Country
Poland
Keywords
Ecological Sustainability, Digital Art, Environmental Impact, Data Preservation
Related innovation areas
DNA Digital Data Storage
Established scientist
Thomas Heinis
Jury day
Between 15 and 20 of November
Budget
4.000 Euros fee/gross (Production budget & Travelling costs covered by CCA LAZNIA to be detailed in selection process)