Jenny Wu Links Datacenters to Slaughterhouses in ArtReview Essay

In her essay for ArtReview, Jenny Wu draws parallels between modern datacenters and historical slaughterhouses, both serving as concealed infrastructures engaged in 'dirty' tasks. She outlines the journey of computing, starting with the 1946 ENIAC in Philadelphia and progressing to today’s server farms, which often utilize repurposed sites like the old Western Union building in Manhattan. Architecture critic Niklas Maak describes datacenters as 'the most important new building typology of the twenty-first century,' yet notes they are designed to be antithetical to traditional architecture. Wu connects the 1867 La Villette slaughterhouse in Paris to contemporary datacenters, referencing philosopher Georges Bataille's critiques regarding environmental issues and military AI, particularly through firms like Anduril and Palantir. She also mentions Aria Dean's 2023 video 'Abattoir, U.S.A.!' and highlights protests in East London alongside a halt on hyperscale datacenters in New York. Wu cautions against neglecting these facilities, reflecting Bataille's metaphor of the slaughterhouse as a 'cholera-infested ship.'