Moncks Corner is part of the series Reconnaissance, which features satellite images of data centers, military sites, and downlinks on large-scale lenticular prints. As the viewer shifts from one side of the work to the other, the composite nature of the image is revealed: It combines two satellite photos of the site of Google’s data center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, before and after its construction, which was completed in 2007, and for which, in 2013, the corporation announced to plans to build a $600-million-dollar expansion. Undertaking reciprocal evidentiary purposes, the print portrays a single, politically relevant location captured at two different points in time.

Reconnaissance juxtaposes two satellite photographs of the same location as evidence of the hidden infrastructure of power. Seeking evidence by means of aerial photography and by the forensic analysis of before-and-after images are investigative practices essential for demanding accountability from state and corporate structures. The series makes use of satellite vision to expand ways of seeing and, along with them, the reference points of political, social, and physical reality.

Read Crucial nodes designed to be ignored by Aude Launay.