The digital cloud is omnipresent: but where exactly is it? An exhibition at the Architecture Museum of the Technical University Munich explores the orrelation of data stractures on the ground and in the virtual space.
We encounter clouds on the countless devices and screens that shape our everyday lives: smartphones, laptops, smart home devices, car interfaces and countless displays in urban spaces. Behind every swipe and stream lies a huge and rapidly growing data infrastructure: data centres in cities and remote regions, undersea cables and satellites. These mostly invisible structures determine our way of life, communication and administration – and at the same time consume enormous amounts of land, energy and raw materials.
Digital Model of Elbphilharmonie, © Herzog & de Meuron
Despite their far-reaching impact, data infrastructures are rarely discussed from an architectural or political perspective. Architectural research can reveal these hidden material and political interconnections. The aim of the exhibition ‘City in the Cloud – Data on the Ground’ at the TU Architecture Museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, curated by Damjan Kokalevski, is to examine the cloud – from its historical origins to its future possibilities – and to advocate for the design and planning of data infrastructures to be more firmly embedded in social and political consciousness.
Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München in the Pinakothek der Moderne, 16. October until 8. March 2026
„City in the Cloud – Data on the Ground“, ed. by Cara Hähl-Pfeifer, Damjan Kokalevski, Andres Lepik, ArchiTangle, Design: Wiegand von Hartmann, Berlin 2025, English Edition ISBN 9783966800389
