(D+E) WASTE - NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE by Rohan Shenoy

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

GRACEFUL (DE)-GRADATION

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

Contents

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

0. DESIGNING FOR THE “UNINTENDED” BY-PRODUCT. Design statement, vision References Gizmo Catalogue Location Ritual Pathwat

1. GRACEFUL (D+E)GRADATIONS:DESIGN INTERVENTION PHASE 1 - EXTRACTION PHASE 2 - FILTERING PHASE 3 - GRAVE

2. EVERY BITS AND BYTES, FINAL IMAGE 3. LITERATURE 4.APENDIX

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

0. Designing for the «unintended» by-product Vision and design proposal

CLOSING THE GAP?

3. AFTERLIFE

1. MINING AFTERLIFE TREATMENT FACILITY

2. USE

75% 75%

1. MANUFACTURING

1.(LEFT) OVERVIEW RESEARCH TO DESIGN DIAGRAM: BYPASSING THE MINING PHASE

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

“With a less exclusionary sense of waste, it might be possible to see that matter moves in “gradations” and, thereby, to devise “ceremonies of transformation.”Jane Gabrys, Digital Rubbish: A Natural History of Electronics, p.155

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

Designing for the «unintended» by-product

GRACEFUL-(DE)GRADATION, NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE Design Statement/ As coined by Bethany Nowviskie and Dot Porter, the notion of “Graceful Degradation” designates an attitude that is used in the design approach as a way to address the core notion of the by-product together with its toxic counterparts. (Nowviskie 2015, 1) Researching D+E Waste from the perspective of cradleto-grave life cycle analysis*, allowed this research to be given a frame within which to trace the ‘unforeseen’. (Yusoff, A Billion Years Black Anthopocenes or Nones, 30) Using such scope of analysis, it has been discovered that in the case of a smart fitness tracker the waste by-product, calls for a better understanding of the chemico-technical pre-life, life and afterlife of the device. Enhancing one’s own sensing faculties thus further means spreading micro-toxicities on every scale, damaging to some extent “some Other’s* lungs” at every stage of the device’s lifespan. It has been equally identified that our current practices of data hoarding, as double operated by the smartwatch, is part of a bigger data-driven infrastructures dilemma, “driving and forcing ever-increasing data collection”(Bietti and Vatanparast, 2020). “Cold data” coming as the ultimate corollary to such ubiquitous lock-in condition*. How to avoid the waste by-product to become part of a viral infection network? (Parikka, Digital Contagions, A media Archeology of computer viruses , 15.) What if every bit and bytes truly count? Whether it be a bit of manganese or another scarce earth mineral that is in itself also involved in computing a byte of biometrics data? If a grave was meant for your D+E waste to rest in peace, could it become a garden? Graceful-(DE)gradations. As a response to such findings, the project proposes to challenge the concept of so-called unintended D and E-by-products with a counter Cradle to Grave proposal. On a planetary scale, and based on multi-species collaboration: humans, fungi and bacteria are mobilized in order for D+E Waste to be reconsidered with care. Ultimately this intervention aiming at preventing one from becoming* D+E waste. G-(DE),

is nor a garden nor a grave, but a place to be again, an afterlife facility. A new form of a post-toxic productive and healing garden. A place where two types of digital by-products (D+E) symbiotically benefit from each other in order to ultimately close the gap between the first and last phase of the life cycle, ultimately bypassing the mining stage, thus re-envisioning the very cradle to grave radically. G-(DE), operates on planetary cross-roads. Oscillating between land and sea, bridging current and post-e-waste processing sites, with internet data cable collection points. Such a condition exemplified in the project with the case of Accra e-waste site and WACS cable terminal, consists of moving filtering entities in search of toxic and scarce mineral spills performed by non-humans. While part of the scenario speculates on multi-species collaboration to gracefully treat e-waste, the other side of the proposal consists in enacting data filtration of digital surplus content. This way, guaranteeing the user a temporary grave to its cloud. G-(DE), requires foreseeing the unforeseen. Putting ‘out of place substances’ such as toxic minerals, metals as well as other types of data waste at the core of the proposal required for them to be foreseen and thus traced in the first part of the approximately 10 years long process as a pre-requirement for such a place to become a garden. Micro (de)gradation of e-devices are in the meantime made visible through ceremonies of transformation within the proposed composition, which is meant for the bereaved humans first to meditate to then finally celebrate renewal. G-(DE), lives under the protective eyes of Mami Water. The structure is maintained and inhabited by over a thousand (D+E) Sacristans (former e-recyclers), ensuring that the filtration and ritualistic celebrations will go on this time (Brandt, A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging,64) ..From time to time, we hear them singing to the fluid rhythms of the structure, dictated by ancestral games. The blessing goes repeatedly:

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

— “I see science fiction as continuing a vein of philosophical inquiry and technological speculation that begins with the Egyptians and their incredibly detailed meditations on life after death.” — (Dery, Black to the future, 210)

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

SONG DONG, DOING NOTHING GARDEN

FOR EXAMPLE, THE SPONTANEOUS GROWTH OF VEGETATION ON THE MOUND AND THE CONSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT OF BIODIVERSITY ON AN ACCUMULATION OF WASTE RECALLED THE FRENCH WRITER GILLES CLÉMENT’S IDEA OF UN TIERS PAYSAGE (A THIRD LANDSCAPE)— ABANDONED PARCELS OF LAND THAT HAVE BEEN ALTERED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY AND YET ARE NEITHER DEVELOPED NOR PRESERVED, BUT EVOLVE WITHOUT CONSCIOUS HUMAN INTERVENTION.

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FRESH KILLS PARK

photo of monitoring soil system in former NY based dumpsite.

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

IDEAL SITE LOCATION

On planetary crossroads, oscillating between land and sea, the systems arises at the conjunction between data centers, undersea cable landing sites and on toxic e-landfills. The conjunction allows for D+E waste to symbiotically benefit from each other. Collage using XXXXXX photography (left)

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NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE 4.

1. Cable landing terminal site. 2. Post e-waste landfill 3. River delta 4. Sea

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

UNDERSEA CABLES/DATA TERMINAL/ SEABED/TOXIC LANDFILL MAP

Such a condition exemplified in the project with the case of Accra e-waste site and WACS cable terminal, consists of moving filtering entities in search of toxic and scarce mineral spills performed by non-humans..

A.Project location, Ghana

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

AGBOGBLOSHIE, GHANA

Agbogbloshie, Ghana. The biggest and most polluted toxic landfill in the world. The Nungua Landing Site. Where undersea cables connect Ghana to the world wide web The River Odaw. The body of water that carries toxicity back into the ocean. The physical manifestation of Sodom and Gomorrah as the Others call it. Elongated along the river, the Graceful(De-)Gradation system aims to treat e-waste micro-aggregates and metal compounds as well as cold data and redundant data copies.. W 0°

N 5°

33’36’’

E-waste landfill Agbogbloshie

33’18’’

Old Fadama 33’00’’

32’42’’

riv

32’24’’

32’06’’

Korle Lago

31’48’’

Agbogbloshie Ghana

13’48’’

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13’30’’

13’12’’

12’54’

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE Data centre IS Internet Solutions Ghana Limited

Landing site undersea cable WACS

atlantic Sea

ri Af st

We ca

Korle Lago

Su ar

le ab

eC in

toxic spill

Agbogbloshie, Accra Ghana

12’54’’

12’36’’

12’18’’

12’00’’

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

GIZMO CATALOGUE 1:1

GIZMOS CATALOGUE1,

Smart devices (left)/traditional mining and e-dismantling methods...

Dismantled Fitbit Charge 2

Fitbit Charge 2

Smartwatch

Laptops

Smartphones

Tablets

Desktop-PC

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GIZMO CATALOGUE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

1:20

Conveyor belt Plan

Conveyor belt Elevation

Eddy current separator Plan

BATTERY

VALVE

Eddy current separator Elevation

SENSOR

Eddy current separator Elevation

Industrial Arm Type 2 Elevation

Industrial Arm Type 1 Elevation

Industrial Arm Type 2 Plan

Industrial Arm Type 1 Plan

Single shaft shredder

Magnetic Separators Elevation

Hammer Mill Elevation

Magnetic Separators Elevation

Hammer Mill Elevation

Magnetic Separators Plan

Hammer Mill Plan

Air Separator Elevation

Air Separator Plan

# 17 1m

Trommer Screen Elevation

Trommer Screen Plan

GIZMO CATALOGUE

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

1:200

GIZMOS CATALOGUE2,

Phytomining plants. Bio-leaching bacteria... ..

120

54 51

36 TAT-14 landing station Blåbjerg , Denmark

78 54

30 69

28 78

62 Accra landing site WACS, Ghana

# 18 10m

INTER-ARRAY CABLELAY VESSEL

GIZMO CATALOGUE NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

1:2000

160 410

780

400 100

South Lantau Submarine Cable Station, Hong Kong

940 450

STANDARD MULTIPLATFORM COMPUTER ROOM

E-waste landfill Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana

# 19 100m

GIZMO CATALOGUE

Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

1:2

PROJECT SELECTED GIZMOS,

Phytomining plants. Bio-leaching bacteria... ..

Carex pendula

Eichhorina crassipes

47,5

Acidithiobacillus

(D+E) sacristan

Populus deltoides

HOT STORAGE INTEL SERVER SYSTEM TPM

CAREX PENDULA

250

796

LTO OPEN HARDRIVE

206

140 439

# 20 10cm

1:2

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GIZMO CATALOGUE

1000

Arundo donax

10cm

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

1. GRACEFUL (D+E)GRADATIONS: Design

STAGE 1

Gate To Wasteland

STAGE 1

Sacrifice

STAGE 3

STAGE 3 Grief and Relief

(LEFT) THE STRUCTURE ACTS AS A PROCEDURAL SYSTEM OPERATING IN THREE DIFFERENT STAGES OVER A TIME PERIOD OF 10 YEARS. SUCH PROCEDURES MADE VISIBLE THROUGH CEREMONIES OF TRANSFORMATION AND THREE STAGES OF GRIEF THROUGH A RITUAL PATHWAY IS MEANT FOR THE BEREAVED HUMANS TO MEDITATE AND THEN FINALLY CELEBRATE RENEWAL. (RIGHT) CONEPTUAL COLLAGE OF A FLOATING STRUCTURE INHABITANT BY MULTI SPECIES AND NON HUMAN AGENTS. IN THIS SECOND CHAPTER, WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT A SELECTION OF ELEMENTS OF THE STRUCTURE’S DESIGN.

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

RITUAL PATHWAY

The structure is maintained and inhabited by new D+E Sacristans (former e-recyclers), ensuring that the filtration and ritualistic celebrations keep going. At the very end of the path, facing the horizon D+E sacristans take turns to activate the overwriting grave process that is coordinated to the movements of the pendulum. Over time it opens up to more visitors, willing to mourn their D+E loss.

(D+E)Sacristan

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STAGE 01

STAGE 02

GATE TO WASTELAND

SACRIFICE

the entrance to wasteland,

the stage of denial,

sacrifice made gracefully,

a ritual place to mourn the loss of your beloved e-device,

a walk over the piles of toxic by-products which pile up to enourmous mountains of waste

saying farewell in dignity to your beloved devices,

a contemplative place to become aware of all the implications of our daily accumulation of d- and e-waste

the disgraceful end of the line for millions of unused e-devices

letting them enter a new phase in their life, closing the loop of life, gracefully mourning the loss

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE STAGE 03

RELIEF / REVELATION grief as a processual stage,

acknowledging your loss,

the final step on the way to liberation,

supported by the process of graceful (de-)gradation system

while ascending on the ladder of emotional acceptance

revealing the impact of the graceful (de-)gradation system

where the grave becomes a garden and vice versa

simultaneously to the process of seeing the devices gracefully degrading

reliefing and freeing you from the shackles of waste

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

PROJECT FOOTPRINT

Both on land and sea, the project footprint equals to a total amount of about 4km on a strip of land and sea of 100m long on average.

GARDEN 3.

GRAVE 5. 4.

1. SOIL MONITORING DRONE PORT 2. CONNECTING NODE 3. BIO SLURPING

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4.DOCKING STATIONS 5. FILTERING POD 6. GRAVE

4KM

GARDEN

GRAVE

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

OVERVIEW_LAND+ SEA

PHYTO—MINING/ CAREX PENDULA

WATER HYACINTH

1 IDENTIFICATION AND EXTRACTION THE TOXIC LANDFILL IS SURVEYED, MONITORED AND THE LEACHATE IS REDIRECTED TO THE MAIN STATIONERY PLATFORM (E-WASTE), DATA IS ALSO RECEPTION (D-WASTE).

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NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE ARUNDO DONAX

POPULUS DELTODOIDE

2.FILTRATION/SYMBIOSIS

3.GRAVE

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

1. GRACEFUL (D+E)GRADATIONS: Design intervention 1. Here, the contaminated landfill is being analyzed in order to extract the metals which decomposed into the soil as well as the leachate.

STAGE 1

Gate To Wasteland

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PHYTO REMEDIATION PLANTS

Hyper-accumulator plants are grouped around specific basins on land for each one of them to hyper-specifically digest the metalsinto their tissues. Such species, are able to naturally absorb metals from contaminated soil through their roots, concentrating extremely high levels of metals such as copper, zinc, or even silver. Once they have reached a certain level of concentration, the plants are then incinerated to retrieve the metal with the resulting biomass being transported back to the water infrastructure.

Pleurotus ostreatus

Carex Pendula

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LAND OVERVIEW

Here, the contaminated landfill is being analyzed in order to extract the metals which decomposed into the soil as well as the leachate..

1. THE TOXIC LANDFILL IS SURVEYED, MONITORED AND THE LEACHATE IS REDIRECTED TO THE MAIN STATIONERY PLATFORM (E-WASTE), DATA IS ALSO RECEPTION (D-WASTE).

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LAND OVERVIEW ZOOM IN

A transportation and conveying system connects land and sea elements for the extracted fluis to be exchanged seemlessly between both. The biomass together with the mushroom fluid is are conveyed based on a connecting nodes system.

FORMER E-WASTE LANDSITE

1. 3.

1. SOIL MONITORING 2. SPRINKLER 3. BIO-SLURPER 4.PHYTO_MINING 5.BASIN

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SOIL MONITORING DRONE PORT

On top of the site, 2.5km from the sea a series of drones sit in the drone tower, ready to analyze contamination levels of the soil using photogrammetry.To accomplish such a task, sprinklers are placed on the soil to disperse revealing fluids onto the soil.

1. THE TOXIC LANDFILL IS SURVEYED, MONITORED AND THE LEACHATE IS REDIRECTED TO THE MAIN STATIONERY PLATFORM (E-WASTE), DATA IS ALSO RECEPTION (D-WASTE).

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CONNECTING NODE

The biomass together with the mushroom fluid is are conveyed based on a connecting nodes system. .

1. THE TOXIC LANDFILL IS SURVEYED, MONITORED AND THE LEACHATE IS REDIRECTED TO THE MAIN STATIONERY PLATFORM (E-WASTE), DATA IS ALSO RECEPTION (D-WASTE).

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BIO SLURPERS

Just like a straw would draw liquid from a glass, automated bio-slurpers sink into the ground collecting the localized leachate, thus extracting highly volatile metals. .

1. THE TOXIC LANDFILL IS SURVEYED, MONITORED AND THE LEACHATE IS REDIRECTED TO THE MAIN STATIONERY PLATFORM (E-WASTE), DATA IS ALSO RECEPTION (D-WASTE).

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FLOW ECHO

mushroom based soil analysing method.

1. RADIO PICTURE OF THE FLUIDS AFTER IT HAD BEEN INJECTED INTO THE SOIL.

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2. At this stage, a symbiosis between the two waste streams is created within specific units of the sea infrastructure. The treatment processing for data waste will benefit from e-waste as followed:

STAGE 1

Sacrifice

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NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

FUNGI & BACTERIA

While pleutorus mushroom are harvested in order to analyse the former landfill soil toxicity levels, bacterias are stored into the pods in order to bio-leach metals and filter them out..

Pleurotus ostreatus

Acidithiobacillius ferrous bacteria

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DOCKING AND CHARGING FLOATING PLATFORMS

Based on the African fractal of the originally Ghanian Awale game, three main platforms create a docking point. Farming, Energy generation, Data sanitization. Each one of them also work as a docking station for non-stationary units, moving according to the game set. .

4. 1.

1. FILTERING D+E POD 2. CABLE 3. METAL SPILL TO BE FILTERED 4.DOCKING STATION 1

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ANALOGY &THE GAME OF AWALE

Analogies between the game of awalé and african fractal vernacular settlements. African Fractals, Ron Eglash. Rhythms of the partially automated docking station as well as their shape is dictated by the ancestral game.

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FILTERING PODS

The floating pods are the most important elements of the structure due to their symbiotic nature. On the top layer, remaining liquid micro metal particles are filtered with the help of bacteria, while on the underwater layer data is being filtered and processed on hot servers enhancing the upper-layer processes to go faster benefitting from the produced heat. Before performing each filtration procedure, they connect to the undersea data cables, where data gets extracted. Redundant copies as well as cold data being sorted out, ready to be erased permanently.

1. FLOATING PLATFORM 2. HOT DATA UNDERWATER SERVERS 3. VERTICAL PUMP/COOLING SYSTEM 4.METAL COMPOUND ABSORBENTS

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POD SYMBIOSIS

Collage of a proposed symbiosis composition is articulated, the content of the pod is organized according to temperature levels D+E benefiting from each other within them...

WEARABLES DATA SANITAZATION UNIT

Amount of Fitbit Data acquired over a period of 1 year

10°-13°

Fe, Zn, Cd, Cu, B, and Cr

Eichhorina crassipes (water hyacinth)

20°-35°

Ag+

Populusdeltoides x nigra and Arabidopsis thaliana

36°-45°

Cd and Zn

Cd and Zn Arundo Donax

Hot Storage INTEL Server System

Arundo Donax

0°-60°

Hot Data

Si Mn

Erasure

Si Mn

0°-60°

Cold Data

Ni Ag

Mo Au

Linear Tape-Open hardrive

Co Pb

Ni Ag

Mo Au

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PLANTS/FUNGI/BACTERIA/STORAGE

this table with identified needed temperature defines the symbiotic relations to some extent between the differents actors.

PLANTS WITH PHYTOREMEDIATION

Nature of by-product pollutant

Mechanism of removal

Amount of plants (+required volumes)

Arundo donax

is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo. Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed.

Cd and Zn

Rhizofiltration by roots

Eichhorina crassipes (water hyacinth)

Pontederia crassipes, commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often a highl y problematic invasive species outside its native range. It is the sole species of Pontederia subg. Oshunae.[2]

20 giant reed plants 0.125 cm3 min 5.4 g (wet mass)

11 mol dm−3 of CdCl2 (60.8 kB 11 mol dm−3 of ZnCl2 (22.5 kB

A 3-phase cleaning system Heavy metals (@)

Rhizofiltration

3 columns with different root len

by roots

water container (0.28 × 0.19 × 0.

total container = 0.93m2_ each u 20 L

Populusdeltoides x nigra and Arabidopsis thaliana Biopiling

Biopiling is an ex situ bioremediation technology that has been extensively used for remediating a wide range of petrochemical contaminants in soils. Biopiling involves the assembling of contaminated soils into piles and stimulating the biodegrading activity of microbial populations by creating near optimum growth conditions.

Silver nanoparticles and Ag+

Phytoaccumulation

Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons

in rods

Rhizofiltration

Four eco-biopiles

Carex pendula

Carex pendula (pendulous sedge, also known as hanging, drooping or weeping sedge) is a large sedge of the genus Carex. It occurs in woodland, scrubland, hedges and beside streams, preferring damp, heavy clay soils. It is sometimes grown as a garden plant because of its distinctive appearance.

5 L ofwastewater Three uniformplants (2m high) deuterium lamp back-ground correction system

Carpophore mushrooms (pleurotus)

Pleurotus ostreatus, the oyster mushroom or oyster fungus, is a common edible mushroom.

DATA WASTE SANITAZATION AMOUNTS

Spores coated with agarose

2–30 cm average size 47.1cm2/mushroom >0,0047m2 ~ 47 000

Mechanism of removal

Amount initally stored

+ flow echo spores

Nature of by-product pollutant

Hot Storage INTEL Server System

Fitbit Data

Amount of Fitbit Data acquired over a period of 1 year

24 GB redundant copies Linear Tape-Open hardrive

X100

1.2 GB personnal sphere =2400 redundant copies 1U rack= 3 TB= 3000GB

Iphone Data

Amount of Iphone acquired over a period of 1 year 32GB: limited local storage. 64GB: enough for basic use. 128GB: enough for the average user. every year this amount of data is backed up on the cloud services

Hot Storage INTEL Server System Iphone cold cloud data

(estimation) 128 GB= 12 800 GB

Linear Tape-Open hardrive

4,2U rack= 12 800/3000GB

Hot Storage INTEL Server System

1 TB = 100 TB

X100

Computer Data

Amount of cloud storage a year based on Google Cloud cimputing annual subrscuption. 1TB/year X100 $9.99/m > 1B $299.99 >30TB

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Cloud computing services

Linear Tape-Open hardrive

33 U rack= 100TB/3

Time

Required surfaces/Volumes

Filtered amounts

T°c

volumes)

d plants min mass)

0-3000 minutes per liquid intake

0,0025L/Unit

78.9 and 66.6 kBq/dm3 respectively

36-45

approx 5 days

0.9m2/Unit

0.02–20 mg/L

10-13

20-35

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

of plants

symbiosis

m−3 of CdCl2 (60.8 kBq dm−3 109CdCl2) and m−3 of ZnCl2 (22.5 kBq dm−3 65ZnCl2)

leaning system

with different root lengths/8 plants per column

iner (0.28 × 0.19 × 0.46 m)

ner = 0.93m2_ each unit= 0.3m2

opiles

220 days

3 -10 high (H)m2/Unit

49.62% of TPHs

water

5 L ofwastewater

2mx 5000 cm3/Unit

1.0–10 mg/L

rmplants (2m high) amp back-ground ystem

2weeks

erage size ushroom

85 kg mushrooms

nitally stored

Time

onnal sphere

1 year

18.3 x 12mx 4m 222m2/unit

Required surfaces (19-inch server rack cabinet is typically 42u in height, 600 millimetres (24 in) wide, and 36 inches (914.40 mm) deep)

Filtered amounts

T°c recommended temperature 15<x<31,6

796x 489mm x1 0 C°-60C°

ndant copies

206x146mm x1

TB= 3000GB

) 800 GB

1 acre of land= 102,790 kg

tempered max -7

1 year

10°C to 35°C

796x 489mm x4 0 C°-60C°

12 800/3000GB 206x146mm x4

10°C to 35°C

one shelf

1 year

796x 489mm x33

0 C°-60C°

100TB/3 206x146mm x33

10°C to 35°C

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

3. Once the filtration is accomplished by the different pods, the remaining metal and data is brought to dedicated ending points.

STAGE 3 Grief and Relief

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COMPARTIMENTED SILO

The grave point of the structure, was mainly defined as a floating inverted silo (underwater filtered storage entity.)

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

GRAVE

The pods’ remaining D+E content is in a second time converging towards the grave. Located 800m away from the shore and 20 meters underwater, the grave point is a place where data is erased by supercomputers, as the filtered out metal being deposited in dedicated sillos.

FE AG CU

1. PENDULUM 2. POD DISCHARGE POINT 3. FLOATING PLATFORM 4.COLD DATA 5.DATA ERASURE POINT

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momentum and the conservation of energy with swinging spheres..

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

NEWTON’S CRADLE (INVERTED)

The Newton’s cradle is a device that demonstrates the conservation of

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2. EVERY BITS AND BYTES, final image GRACEFUL-(DE)GRADATION,

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

With this 10 year process, the landscape of Agbogbloshie has changed. Ready for a new life. A new beginning These former machinic landscapes are replaced with a post Anthropocene rainforest that gradually degrades while the soils and water bodies are rejuvenated..(moving forest render) The final image of the project depicts the D-(DE) system four years after it has been implemented. In the center of the image the ritual pathway unfolds on the entire landscape. On the foreground the grave sit on the low seabed of 800meters away from the shoreline. Underwater, new hot data is about is aggregated and absorbed to be filtered by the structure. Further up on land, above the Odaw delta micro metal compound are treated gradually by means of a range of specific objects and plants. G-(DE), lives under the protective eyes of Mami Water. The structure is maintained and inhabited by over a thousand (D+E) Sacristans former e-recyclers, ensuring that the filtration and ritualistic celebrations will go on this time (Brandt, A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging,64) .. From time to time, we hear them singing to the fluid rhythms of the structure, dictated by ancestral games, — “I see science fiction as continuing a vein of philosophical inquiry and technological speculation that begins with the Egyptians and their incredibly detailed meditations on life after death.” — (Dery, Black to the future, 210)

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Ag Ag

Mn Ag Ag

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Ag Ag

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EVERY BITS AND BYTES

Selection of zoom-in from the final image.

1. HOT DATA COLLECTION POINT UNDERSEA CABLE 2. TIDAL ENERGY SUPPLY AND PRODUCTION 3. FILTERING POD 4.INHABITED GRAVE POINT

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NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE 1. TOWARDS THE SHORE, MUSHROOM FARM 2. PLANT BASED DATA STORAGE 3. RITUAL PATHWAY SITH ONGOING PROCESSION 4. HYPER FARMS

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

LITTERATURE

PART 01: MINING - ON THE QUEST FOR RARE METALS AND MINERALS Cannon, William F. 2014. Manganese: it turns iron into steel (and does so much more). (Reston, VA: U. S. Geological Survey). http://pubs. er.usgs.gov/publication/fs20143087. Chen, Wei, Guodong Li, Allen Pei, Yuzhang Li, Lei Liao, Hongxia Wang, Jiayu Wan, Zheng Liang, Guangxu Chen, Hao Zhang, Jiangyan Wang, and Yi Cui. 2018. “A manganese–hydrogen battery with potential for grid-scale energy storage.” Nature Energy 3 (5): 428-435. https:// doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0147-7. Creamer, Martin. 2020. “South Africa has 22 operating manganese mines.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.miningweekly.com/ article/south-africa-has-22-operating-manganese-mines-amaranthcx--2020-09-28 Kim, G., H. S. Lee, J. Seok Bang, B. Kim, D. Ko, and M. Yang. 2015. “A current review for biological monitoring of manganese with exposure, susceptibility, and response biomarkers.” J Environ Sci Health C Environ Carcinog Ecotoxicol Rev 33 (2): 229-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/1059 0501.2015.1030530. Kwakye, Gunnar F., Monica M. B. Paoliello, Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, Aaron B. Bowman, and Michael Aschner. 2015. “Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism and Parkinson’s Disease: Shared and Distinguishable Features.” International journal of environmental research and public health 12 (7): 7519-7540. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120707519. Lepawsky, Josh. 2018. Reassembling Rubbish: Worlding Electronic Waste. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Li, Longman, and Xiaobo Yang. 2018. “The Essential Element Manganese, Oxidative Stress, and Metabolic Diseases: Links and Interactions.” Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity 2018: 7580707-7580707. https://doi. org/10.1155/2018/7580707. https://pubmed.

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ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29849912 Miliute-Pleine, Jurate and Lena Youhanan. 2019. E-Waste and Raw Materials: From Environmental Issues to Business Models. Stockholm: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Subin, Samantha. 2021. “The new U.S. plan to rival China and end the cornering of the market in rare earth metals.” Accessed June 4, 2021.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/17/thenew-us-plan-to-rival-chinas-dominance-inrare-earth-metals.html#:~:text=China’s%20 rare%20earths%20dominance&text=They%20 include%20metals%20like%20dysprosium,motors%2C%20turbines%20and%20medical%20 devices. Sun, Xin, Han Hao, Zongwei Liu, and Fuquan Zhao. 2020. “Insights into the global flow pattern of manganese.” Resources Policy 65: 101578. https://doi.org/https://doi. org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101578. https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0301420719306774. Thygesen, Kristina. 2020. “An average day in a large-sized copper mine.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.grida.no/resources/11419. Vernon, Chris. 2020. “The future of the battery supply chain.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https:// research.csiro.au/resourcesandsustainability/ ausimm-li-battery-metals-2020/ Vo, Huynh Quang Nguyen, Joël Kattelus, Sunil Karki, and Shahid Shopneel. 2020. “Life Cycle Assessment Summary Samsung Galaxy Watch.” Yusoff, Kathryn. 2018. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE PART 02: EVERY BIT COUNTS Maher, Carol, Jillian Ryan, Christina Ambrosi, and Sarah Edney. “Users’ Experiences of Wearable Activity Trackers: A Cross-Sectional Study.” BMC public health 17, no. 1 (2017) Tenzer, F. “Sales of Wearables Worldwide by Manufacturer from 2014 to 2020.” Accessed May 21, 2021. https://de.statista.com/ statistik/daten/studie/515716/umfrage/absatz-von-wearables-weltweit-nach-hersteller/. Kousoulas, Stavros. “Shattering the Black Box: Technicities of Architectural Manipulation.” International Journal of Architectural Computing 16, no. 4 (2018): 295–305. https://doi. org/10.1177/1478077118801937. Parikka, Jussi. Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses. Second edition. Digital formations vol. 44. New York, Bern, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016. Fitbit Inc. “Fitbit Privacy Policy.” Accessed May 22, 2021. https://www.fitbit.com/global/nl/legal/ privacy-policy.

PART 03: AFTERLIFE: BECOMING E-WASTE, TRANSMUTATIONS

Pitron, Guillaume. The Rare Metals War: The Dark Side of Clean Energy and Digital Technologies . SCRIBE, 2020. Robertson, Kirsty. “Plastiglomerate.” e-Flux, no. 78 (December 2016). “The Economics of Mining Seabed Manganese Nodules: A Case Study of the Indian Ocean Nodule Field.”Marine Georesources & Geotechnology 37, no. 7 (August 9, 2019): 845–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/106411 9X.2018.1504149. Tsing, A., Swanson, H., Gan, E., & Bubandt, N. (Ed.). (2017). Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts of the Anthropocene. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Vergès, Françoise. “Capitalocene, Waste, Race, and Gender.” E-Flux 100 (May 2019). Yusoff, Kathryn, A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None (University of Minnesota Press, 2018). Networks.africa | Vertical Atlas http://senseable.mit.edu ------

Blanc P. D. (2018). The early history of manganese

and the recognition of its neurotoxicity, 18371936. Neurotoxicology, 64, 5–11. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.neuro.2017.04.006 Caravanos, Jack, Edith Clark, Richard Fuller, and Calah Lambertson. “Assessing Worker and Environmental Chemical Exposure Risks at an E-Waste Recycling and Disposal Site in Accra, Ghana.” Journal of Health and Pollution 1, no. 1 (February 2011): 16–25. https://doi. org/10.5696/jhp.v1i1.22. Dòwòti Désir, Goud kase goud : Conjuring Memory in Spaces of the AfroAtlantic : Conjuring Memory in the Spaces of the AfroAtlantic, 2014.

Brandt, Dionne. A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging. Apple Books, 2001. Bietti, E., & Vatanparast, R. (2020). Data waste. Harvard International Law Journal Frontiers, 61. Accessed April 27, 2021. https://harvardilj. org/2020/04/data-waste/#_ftn7 Dery, M. (1994). Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose. In Flame Wars (pp. 179-222). Duke University Press. Morris, Rosalind C., and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, eds. Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the History of an Idea. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. Parikka, Jussi. Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses. Second edition. Digital formations vol. 44. New York, Bern, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016. Yusoff, Kathryn. 2018. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

APPENDIX

EARLY SKETCH FOR THE DESIGN PROPOSAL.

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NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

FIRST PROPOSED COMPOSITION

composition of three floating pods including the mushroom farms. early on cylinder shape proposal.

DATA WASTE IPHONE SANITAZATION UNIT carpophore mushrooms farm

rpo

ore

roo

farm

inle

LE -30

2 +

-12

+ 3

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Graceful (D+E)-Gradations

5.5571096,-0.2012376 5.5571096,-0.2012376 5.5571096,-0.2012376 5.5571096,-0.2012376 5.5571096,-0.2012376 5.5571096,-0.2012376

Acidithiobacillius

www.graceful(de)gradations.org

user DE certificate

Acidithiobacillus is a genus of the Acidithiobacillia in the «Proteobacteria». The genus includes acidophilic organisms capable of iron and or sulfur oxidation. Like all «Proteobacteria», Acidithiobacillus spp. are Gram-negative. Nature of by-product pollutant filtered Acidithiobacillus is a genus of the Acidithiobacillia in the «Proteobacteria». The genus includes acidophilic organisms capable of iron and/or sulfur oxidation. Like all «Proteobacteria», Acidithiobacillus spp. are Gram-negative.

Mechanism of removal Bio leaching filtration

Time 120 days

T°c 40 > x > 60°C

Symbiosis Biometric wearable data + bacteria leaching

Location Agbobloshie, Ghana + WACS cable terminal

D+E Waste

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date/ 29/06/21

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NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

GRACEFUL-(DE)GRADATION, NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE

As coined by Bethany Nowviskie and Dot Porter, the notion of “Graceful Degradation” designates an attitude that is used in the design approach as a way to address the core notion of the by-product together with its toxic counterparts. (Nowviskie 2015, 1) Researching D+E Waste from the perspective of cradle-tograve life cycle analysis*, allowed this research to be given a frame within which to trace the ‘unforeseen’. (Yusoff, A Billion Years Black Anthopocenes or Nones, 30) Using such scope of analysis, it has been discovered that in the case of a smart fitness tracker the waste by-product, calls for a better understanding of the chemico-technical pre-life, life and afterlife of the device. Enhancing one’s own sensing faculties thus further means spreading micro-toxicities on every scale, damaging to some extent “some Other’s* lungs” at every stage of the device’s lifespan. It has been equally identified that our current practices of data hoarding, as double operated by the smartwatch, is part of a bigger data-driven infrastructures dilemma, “driving and forcing ever-increasing data collection”(Bietti and Vatanparast, 2020). “Cold data” coming as the ultimate corollary to such ubiquitous lock-in condition*. How to avoid the waste by-product to become part of a viral infection network? (Parikka, Digital Contagions, A media Archeology of computer viruses , 15.) What if every bit and bytes truly count? Whether it be a bit of manganese or another scarce earth mineral that is in itself also involved in computing a byte of biometrics data? If a grave was meant for your D+E waste to rest in peace, could it become a garden? Graceful-(DE)gradations. As a response to such findings, the project proposes to challenge the concept of so-called unintended D and E-by-products with a counter Cradle to Grave proposal. On a planetary scale, and based on multi-species collaboration: humans, fungi and bacteria are mobilized in order for D+E Waste to be reconsidered with care. Ultimately this intervention aiming at preventing one from becoming* D+E waste.

G-(DE), is nor a garden nor a grave, but a place to be again, an afterlife facility. A new form of a post-toxic productive and healing garden. A place where two types of digital by-products (D+E) symbiotically benefit from each other in order to ultimately close the gap between the first and last phase of the life cycle, ultimately bypassing the mining stage, thus re-envisioning the very cradle to grave radically. G-(DE), operates on planetary cross-roads. Oscillating between land and sea, bridging current and post-e-waste processing sites, with internet data cable collection points. Such a condition exemplified in the project with the case of Accra e-waste site and WACS cable terminal, consists of moving filtering entities in search of toxic and scarce mineral spills performed by non-humans. While part of the scenario speculates on multi-species collaboration to gracefully treat e-waste, the other side of the proposal consists in enacting data filtration of digital surplus content. This way, guaranteeing the user a temporary grave to its cloud. G-(DE), requires foreseeing the unforeseen. Putting ‘out of place substances’ such as toxic minerals, metals as well as other types of data waste at the core of the proposal required for them to be foreseen and thus traced in the first part of the approximately 10 years long process as a pre-requirement for such a place to become a garden. Micro (de)gradation of e-devices are in the meantime made visible through ceremonies of transformation within the proposed composition, which is meant for the bereaved humans first to meditate to then finally celebrate renewal. G-(DE), lives under the protective eyes of Mami Water. The structure is maintained and inhabited by over a thousand (D+E) Sacristans (former e-recyclers), ensuring that the filtration and ritualistic celebrations will go on this time (Brandt, A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging,64) ..From time to time, we hear them singing to the fluid rhythms of the structure, dictated by ancestral games.

NOR A GARDEN NOR A GRAVE