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Cyborg Mountains of Switzerland

Stretching approximately 1,200 km across eight countries (France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia), the Alps are the most extensive mountain range system of Europe. Often seen as a pristine wildlife area by tourists for few centuries, the alpine arc is actually an interesting case to observe the hybridisation of natural and artificial elements. Relying on cases selected from a field research project I have been conducting over the last six years¹, this visual essay describes the Alps as a kind of techno-landscape. It features 10 "scenes" that highlight the diversity of man-made interventions in this context, showing how issues regarding mobility, energy, food consumption, surveillance and aesthetics are addressed materially in this mountain area. Such scenes illustrate to what extent the Alps may be described as a cyborg-like environment, a cultural artefact, a blend of the human and the natural, as suggested by Philip V. Scarpino ².

Scene 1: Tropenhaus Haus (Frutigen, Bern).

The Tropenhaus (Tropical House) is a commercial project using geothermal energy from hot water flowing out of the Lötschberg base tunnel for the production of exotic fruit (banana, coffee), sturgeon meat, and caviar in a tropical greenhouse in the Swiss bernese Alps. The idea for this greenhouse project began in 2002 when it became apparent that the water continuously flowing out of the recently dug 34.57 km tunnel could not be directly diverted to the local river, as its temperature would disrupt the biological rhythm of the endangered trout there. Rather than cooling the water artificially, wasting its thermal energy, tunnel engineers founded a start-up company to use the warm water to heat a greenhouse. Although the fish production is robust, the exotic fruits are less prominent. This is why the Tropenhaus only sells "10% coffee" (local beans mixed with some coming from elsewhere).

Scene 2: Devil's Bridge (Andermatt, Uri).

Built in the 13th century, the Devil's bridge (Teufelbrücke) provides access across the Gotthard pass from the North of Europe (Germany) to the South (Italy) and vice versa. The stone bridge has been replaced and extended several times over the years. Building this stone bridge back then was challenging, because the river below pushes through vertical rock walls. The legend says that people from the area, in despair, asked the Devil to help them. He did. He claimed the first soul who went over the bridge. While villagers agreed to this trade, the Devil was unhappy with his reward. The villagers sent a billy goat instead of a human being. Full of anger, the Devil tore the animal apart and found a huge stone to destroy the bridge. Just then, an elderly women was passing by, recognised the Devil and carved a cross into the stone of the bridge. Once the Devil saw this, he completely missed his target and the stone landed in the valley below, where it has been ever since.

Scene 3: Solar panel on an artificial lake (Bourg Saint Pierre, Wallis).

The solar plant at Lac des Toules, a man-made lake formed by a dam, consists of 1,400 panels, laid on 36 floating structures made of aluminium and polyethylene plastic anchored to the bottom of the lake. Building a photovoltaic installation at a high altitude lake has several advantages. First, the UV rays are more intense. Second, because solar panels are more effective at low temperatures. And, third it is possible to use reflected light from the snow and water which adds to the installations electrical yield. Current production exceeds 800,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, equivalent to the consumption of about 220 households.

Scene 4: Solar panels on stone houses (Campo, Ticino).

In Ticino, the Swiss-Italian part of the country, a rustico is a stone-based rural building built from local random rubble, which used to serve the simple life of farmers. At the time, there was no electricity or water connections in the countryside. Als, the sewage system was not not as good as it is today. Lots of rusticos have been restored and renovated recently, with great care given to keep the typical architectural elements of traditional houses. The addition of photovoltaic installations, which is not too conspicuous, is an important addition to the buildings, providing dwellers with a minimal amount of electricity. This mix of rock, wood and solar panels might be seen as a sort of alpine version of the Solarpunk aesthetic.

Scene 5: Bitcoin mine (Gondo, Wallis).

Gondo, the last village before the Italian border in Wallis, at the southern foot of the Simplon Pass, used to host various gold mines, between 1550 and 1897. As the area provides a sustainable and eco-friendly source of power, as well as a very attractive electricity price, a Swiss firm called Alpine Mining established here a crypto-mining facility in 2016. Located in one of the grey buildings in the back of the picture, the company now sells reliable and secure solutions for a variety of blockchain projects. They also provide secure data processing for machine learning endeavours.

Scene 6: Gas pipeline (Obergoms, Wallis).

The Transitgas transport system consists of 131.7 km of 48" pipeline and 160.7 km of 36" pipeline that crosses the Alps from north to south with connection to the French natural gas grid in the west. It relies on numerous tunnels built at altitudes of 1500, 1920 and 2400 m. The pipelines have stations such as compressor stations with waste heat recovery plants, metering stations as well as diverse slide-gate valve stations. Unlike power lines, they are not visible in the landscape, which is why orange marker posts indicate the route taken by an underground gas pipeline.

Scene 7: Antenna (Leuk, Wallis).

The satellite reception station in Leuk is made of more than 20 parabolic antennas. The installation is divided into two zones, with the smaller site under Swiss control and managed by the Nachrichtendienst des Bundes (Federal Intelligence Service); a site that is part of the Swiss "Onyx" surveillance programme, which monitors both civil and military communications, such as telephone, fax, Internet traffic, and satellite comunications. The larger site, property of a German company called Signalhorn, provides secure communication networks for its clients. This site has been suspected several times of being part of different secret telecommunications interception programmes launched by the United States of America and its allies (ECHELON, and also the PRISM programme, whose importance was leaked by Edward Snowden).

Scene 8: Snowmaking facility (Zermatt, Wallis).

The Snowmaker is a gigantic snow machine that produces snow regardless of temperature. Even though the machines process requires energy and is water-hungry, it allows the Zermatt ski resort to lay down a good snow base in early autumn to ensure perfect pistes in winter. This machine was produced and installed by IDE Technologies, an israelian company that pioneered water desalination, wastewater concentrators and purifiers. Their snowmaking technology comes from the mining industry where it is used to cool the goldmines. The machine creates a vacuum inside its large tank that then forces water to evaporate, which in turn cools the water and helps to form tiny snow crystals that is brought up the mountain on different vehicles to provide snow.

Scene 9: Maintenance tunnel (Emosson, Wallis).

The Alpes are littered with tunnels. While lots of them are devoted to transport (trains, cars, trucks), most of the tunnels are used in various infrastructures (energy production, mines, military facilities, etc.). The tunnel featured on this picture is used for maintenance vehicles operating in the Emosson dam system, an hydroelectric dam development located both in Switzerland and France. It collects the waters of the Mont Blanc massif.

Scene 10: Glacier blanket (Rhône Glacier, Wallis).

As world temperatures rise, caused by human activity, alpine glaciers melt and shrink. Efforts to slow this trend have become commonplace in the last decade. The use of huge white blankets, covering up the ice in order to reflect the sun rays is one of the tactics employed by the inhabitants of the Rhône valley. Although the effort is eventually doomed to fail, the glacier melts slower than before, and tourists can still contemplate this kind of ghost-like version of its former self.

Bio

Nicolas Nova is a researcher, writer and design researcher. He is an anthropologist of technology active in the field of contemporary cultures, interaction design and futures research. His work is focused on observing and documenting digital and new media practices, as well as environmental changes. Using ethnographic approaches, Nicolas investigates everyday cultures to tell stories, and employs design techniques such as Design Fiction to explore the implications of social or technological changes.

• http://www.nicolasnova.net