
Computational Compost: Against the Resource Intensivity of Data Centers
From Art Is Not a Thing by Ars Electronica
December 29, 2025 · 21 min · Season 2 · Episode 7
About this episode
Hanna Balber discusses the environmental impact of data centers with architect Marina Otero Verzier, exploring the intersection of technology and nature.
In this episode, Hanna Balber talks with architect Marina Otero Verzier about the environmental cost of data centres. Challenging the image of the 'cloud' as an immaterial entity, her project, Computational Compost, uses heat from computer servers to power a vermi-composting machine, thus imagining a potential symbiotic relationship between digital technology and nature. Art Is Not a Thing is produced by Ars Electronica and developed in collaboration with Radio Ö1. Host: Hannah Balber ...
People in this episode
Host: Hanna Balber
Guest: Marina Otero Verzier
Topics covered
- environmental cost
- data centers
- digital technology
- nature
- sustainability
- architecture
Keywords
- data centers
- environment
- computational compost
- digital technology
- sustainability
- vermi-composting
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ars Electronica, Radio Ö1
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