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Paper short abstract

The paper explores the role of geological surveying and geospatial data visualization in environing the underground in the context of mineral extraction. Based on collaborative research within an arts and science project, it draws on the approach of critical media practice and political geology.

Paper long abstract

The paper explores the role of geological surveying and geospatial data visualization in environing the underground in the context of mineral extraction. Based on collaborative research within an arts and science project, it draws on the approach of critical media practice and political geology.

Vertical gaze of geological exploration does not simply record subsoil strata but enacts the subterrean space as a site of mineral deposits. The axis of the section runs from the outskirts of the atmosphere, through satellite imagery, to Earth's depths (and back, in case of asteroid mining), and the technical eye, itself composed of extracted metals such as lithium, cobalt, and europium, becomes a tool for environing the voluminous, inscrutable spaces. Within the limits of resolution, the technical imagery maps the surface and traces indices, which, together with gamma-ray measurements or the identification of particular plants in the landscape, make the subterranean legible and governable. Visualization technologies environ the underground with an eye on profit from speculative markets and political strategies, such as the EU's low-carbon and digital transitions and critical raw materials classification.

While sinking the probe might suppress other ways of sensing and relationship-making with the subsoils, what spaces are created beyond the edge of exploration and speculation, in the cracks of the Earth, between the individual images and the pixels in the image itself? We reflect on the prospecting practices and production of digital visual representations of underground, while exploring how the arts can facilitate seeing vertical geographies and inscrutable spaces otherwise.