Silicon Forest

Silicon Forest: Understories of Trees and Data is a critical reflection by the international artist collective Futurefarmers on the creation, collection, management and storage of data. Developed during a year-long residency at PRAx (Patrician Valian Reser Center for Creative Arts) at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, Silicon Forest chronicles their time spent on campus and encounters with researchers, staff and students concerned with techno-sovereign futures. Silicon Forest was coined in 1982 by a Japanese tech magazine and refers to the corridor of semiconductor manufacturing between Portland and Eugene, Oregon (analogous to Silicon Valley, albeit far less infamous) where access to hydro-resources, such as land, hydroelectricity and water for cooling, and proximity to undersea networks provide fertile ground for a transition from forestry to data.