The Datacenter Does Not Exist: Exocapitalism & AI
Please note: We will release 20 tickets per day leading up to this event. Tickets will be released at 10AM ET. Once we reach 160 registrations, we will enable a waitlist via Luma.
A sharp look at AI’s trillion-dollar boom through exocapitalism, where data centers become financial instruments, and the future of software hangs in the balance.
This lecture examines AI infrastructure through exocapitalism, a framework for understanding how capital can move independently of physical constraints like energy, labor, and raw materials. We'll explore the strange economics of the AI boom (trillion-dollar announcements, debts backed by computer chips, and endless layers of intermediary management services) to argue that the "datacenter" now exists primarily as a financial object: a bundle of contracts, debts, and speculative claims. We conclude by identifying the race that will define 2026: between the financialization of massively-centralized infrastructure and the death of software as we currently know it.
Exocapitalism
Marek Poliks and Roberto Alonso Trillo's Exocapitalism: Economics with Absolutely No Limits (2025, Becoming Press) has been lauded as among both the most controversial and the most accurate assessments of this economic moment -- from “unbelievably inspiring” (Hito Steyerl) to “the Das Kapital of the 21st Century” (New Models) to “an info-hazard” (Metalabel) by “Hegel's grandchildren” (Nick Land, derogatory). Marek and Roberto won Google's 2024 Art and Machine Intelligence Award for their work in AI interface design.
Featured speakers
Roberto Alonso-Trillo
Roberto Alonso Trillo is a Hong Kong–based theorist and artist whose work examines deep learning systems as endosymbiotic reproductive infrastructures, situating technical practice within contemporary political theory.
Marek Poliks
Marek Poliks is a theoretical researcher in deep learning and AI. Marek's work is primarily concerned with the autonomy and self-organizing character of technical infrastructure. He is based in Minneapolis.
In conversation with
Dena Yago
Dena is an artist and writer, and a founding member of the trend forecasting group K-HOLE (2010-2016). Recent exhibitions include The Intermission, Pireaus (2024), and MoMA, New York (2024). Her writing has appeared in e-flux journal, Flash Art, and frieze magazine. Her forthcoming book of selected writings, That Figures, will be published by After 8 Books this May.
Hosted by
garden3d is a platform for doing things. We are worker owned creative collective, innovating on everything from brands and IRL communities to IoT devices and cross platform apps. We write & podcast, share profit, open source everything, spin out new businesses, and invest in exciting ideas through financial and/or in-kind contributions.
In partnership with
Center for Diagrammatic and Computational Philosophy
The Center for Diagrammatic and Computational Philosophy brings together philosophers, mathematicians, computer scientists, and interdisciplinary researchers to connect emerging work in computation and diagrammatic reasoning with broader social, political, and economic questions, from AI to voting theory.
MIT Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT)
MIT’s Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program is a graduate hub for critical art practice that treats art as a method of research, experimentation, and knowledge production at the intersection of culture and technology.
Radius
Radius, emerging from MIT’s Technology and Culture Forum, convenes students, faculty, and community members to critically examine the ethical dimensions of science and technology and to advance justice, dignity, and social responsibility.
Montez Press Radio
Montez Press Radio is an independent broadcasting platform based in NYC that hosts live, experimental programming with artists, writers, and thinkers exploring art, politics, and contemporary culture.