Infraestrutura de cabos submarinos: uma pesquisa baseada em práticas artísticas situadas a partir da Praia do Futuro

Abstract

This thesis unfolds from an interest in submarine cables, a crucial infrastructure for intercontinental communication not only in the current age of the Internet, but also since the age of the telegraph. The differential characteristic of the work is to approach this theme based in artistic practices proposed by the author and located in Praia do Futuro, Fortaleza (Ceará). The city is currently the main hub of submarine fiber optic cables in the South Atlantic and it was considering this that the artistic practices sought to promote interculturality on the subject by moving between the capital of Ceará and two locations connected with it through cables: Salgar (Colombia) and Sangano (Angola). Following recent trends in media studies, such as media archeology and media infrastructure studies, the thesis has an exploratory character and offers situated knowledge about the material, territorial and social dimension of the global communication system through submarine cables. These infrastructures often appear to the public involved in narratives of connection or narratives of disruption. The American researcher Nicole Starosielski recognized and studied such types of narrative, proposing to artists and researchers two other types that can help advance the knowledge about cables: transmission narratives and nodal narratives. The thesis takes this approach to support its development as a nodal narrative, starting from the presentation of Praia do Futuro as an infrastructural territory, discussing geopolitical, historical and territorial issues involving submarine cables. Different temporalities, locations, artistic practices and archives are crossed in a heterogeneous way throughout the chapters. As a result, there is recognition of an unusual spectrum of infrastructural affects and imaginaries, as well as a series of ways to approach concepts and issues relevant to the advancement of media infrastructure studies.