Kevin DaySilicon Shield

As part of the Interval residency program, in partnership with the Festival Accès Asie, OBORO is pleased to host Vancouver-based artist Kevin Day. Drawing on research into the political conditions of information capitalism, his project Silicon Shield highlights the material and economic infrastructures that underpin digital technologies through a focused geopolitical lens.  

The current AI boom heavily depends on GPUs (graphics processing units), which are essential for training large language models. Less known is that most of these chips are manufactured in Taiwan, an island whose governance and claimed political status are contested by China. Taiwan’s central role in AI is anchored in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a critical chokepoint in global semiconductor supply chains. This near-monopoly on GPU production functions as a “silicon shield,” providing a form of protection due to the world’s reliance on these chips, while simultaneously generating geopolitical tensions, with China at the forefront.  

Conceived as a haptic installation, Silicon Shield consists of twelve plexiglass sculptures evoking smartphones. Programmed with data tracking Chinese military aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s self-declared airspace, the objects vibrate and sound according to the logic of mobile notifications. By reducing smartphones to their alert function, the work crystallizes political tensions while engaging our sensorial reflexes shaped by daily interactions with digital technologies.  

During his production and presentation residency at OBORO’s New Media Lab, Kevin Day will finalize programming, integrate data, and test the equipment required for the public presentation of this multimedia installation.