9 September 2026 — 26 October 2026

Su Yu Hsin: Particular Waters (IBB Video Space)

In her trilogy Particular Waters, Su Yu Hsin explores the material foundations of digital technologies. At its centre are water, the desert and silicon – resources and landscapes without which computer chips, datacentres and artificial intelligence could not exist. Rather than presenting digital infrastructures as abstract technologies, the artist shifts the focus to the ecological and political conditions on which they rely. The first part is set in Hsinchu, Taiwan, where a significant proportion of the world’s high-performance semiconductors are manufactured. The film asks where the vast quantities of water required for chip production come from and who has access to this vital resource. Told from the perspective of a female water truck driver, it recounts the 2021 drought, revealing the close connections between global supply chains and local water landscapes. The second part moves to the Arizona desert. Beginning with the perspective of a self-driving car, it traces the transformation of an arid landscape into a centre of semiconductor manufacturing and cloud computing. Inspired by “Cloud Song” by the Tohono O’odham poet Ofelia Zepeda, Su Yu Hsin poetically explores the tension between the promises of technological progress and its ecological consequences. The third part leads to Dresden-Gittersee, where the history of mining intersects with current developments in the semiconductor industry. It follows the path of silicon – one of the key raw materials in computer chips and solar cells – through geological strata, industrial production processes and political upheavals. The landscape tells a story of coal and uranium mining as well as the promises of today’s “Silicon Saxony”, showing how regional history is intertwined with global raw-material supply chains.

Berlinische Galerie