Calculating Empires is a large-scale research visualisation project by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler that maps the co-evolution of technology and power structures from 1500 to the present. The work contextualises contemporary AI within five centuries of imperial infrastructure, surveillance, and control systems, foregrounding continuities between historical colonialism and digital power.
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- Calculating Empires is a large-scale research visualization project and exhibition that explores the interconnected history of technology and power from 1500 to the present day
- Created by researcher-artists Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, it aims to contextualise current developments in Artificial Intelligence by examining how technology and power structures have co-evolved over five centuries
- The centerpiece of the exhibition is the Calculating Empires Map Room, which features two massive 12-meter long maps.
- One map focuses on communication and computation, covering the evolution of communication devices, interfaces, data practices, and computational architectures.
- The other map explores control and classification, examining how technologies have been integrated into social systems of Digital Society Surveillance , Education and AI , colonialism, Cyber Security and Military
- It starts in the 1500s, examining pivotal developments like the Gutenberg printing press and new maritime trade routes that expanded European AI Governance Law and Privacy
- It takes a long-term view to reveal recurring patterns in how technology and power structures have developed over centuries.
- The visual style is inspired by sources like Aby Warburg’s “Atlas” project, using evocative imagery to trace historical evolutions.
- It aims to provide critical perspective on current AI developments by placing them in a broader historical context of technological power.
- The exhibition also includes a recreation of the creators’ earlier work “Anatomy of an AI System”.