As a response to Susan Leigh Star\u2019s call to study \u201cboring things\u201d and mundane aspects of\u00a0infrastructure, this research project offers a reflection on the notion of \u201csecondary\u00a0infrastructure\u201d, understood here as the infrastructure enabling the fabrication of the primary\u00a0one. Through this lens, high alpine networks of hydroelectricity are seen as an illustration of\u00a0the expansion of what Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing coins as the resource frontier, in the Swiss
\nAlps.<\/p>\n
The Grande Dixence complex, in the canton of Valais, is the main case study. This dam, the\u00a0tallest in the world by its completion in 1962, was built in response to the rapidly increasing\u00a0demand for electricity in the postwar decades. The remoteness of the constructions and the\u00a0need to execute as much of the work as possible in the summer months resulted in the\u00a0construction of temporary housing settlements for the workers, directly on the building sites.
\nIn stark contrast to the fixed and massive physicalities of the primary infrastructure, a new,\u00a0highly volatile, and dynamic territory emerged with the coming and going of this secondary\u00a0infrastructure. Progressively proliferating into every Alpine valley, it relied on the mobility of
\nits components.<\/p>\n
Two of them are investigated in detail: firstly, the labor, split between local workforce and\u00a0guest workers, and secondly the use of prefabricated barracks, to house those bodies. The\u00a0focus on these two aspects allows for updated readings of building processes of the dam,\u00a0and of the working conditions. Together with a reframing of the notion of infrastructure and\u00a0territory, this focus allows to conceptualize the landscape as an archive, and the study of the\u00a0remnants of this construction as an act of remembrance. They ground claims to belonging to\u00a0silenced voices, by offering a new reading of the Alpine Landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a response to Susan Leigh Star\u2019s call to study \u201cboring things\u201d and mundane aspects of\u00a0infrastructure, this research project offers a reflection on the notion of \u201csecondary\u00a0infrastructure\u201d, understood here as the infrastructure enabling the fabrication of the primary\u00a0one. Through this lens, high alpine networks of hydroelectricity are seen as an illustration of\u00a0the expansion of what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12089,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":""},"categories":[],"departemente":[155,228,117,209],"class_list":["post-12101","projekt","type-projekt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","departemente-department-of-architecture-d-arch","departemente-former-chairs","departemente-institute-for-landscape-and-urban-studies-lus","departemente-prof-dr-h-c-guenther-vogt-institute-for-landscape-and-urban-studies-i-lus"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"departemente":[{"value":155,"label":"Department of Architecture (D-ARCH)"},{"value":228,"label":"Former Chairs"},{"value":117,"label":"Institute for Landscape and Urban Studies (LUS)"},{"value":209,"label":"Prof. em Dr. h. c. G\u00fcnther Vogt"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/moiry_chambre-ouvrier-scaled-1-1024x483.jpg",1024,483,true],"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projekt\/12101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projekt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/projekt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12101"},{"taxonomy":"departemente","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/departemente?post=12101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}