Repeatable spatial formulas make most of the space in the world. Some of the most radical changes to the globalizing world are being written in the language of this almost infrastructural spatial matrix. Administered by mixtures of state and non-state players and driven by profound irrationalities and dubious aspirations, infrastructure space generates de facto, undeclared forms of polity that can outpace law, and it is the secret weapon of some of the world’s most powerful players.
Even at a moment of ubiquitous computing, Extrastatecraft: the Power of Infrastructure Space considers space itself as an information system with the power and currency of software—a spatial operating system for shaping the city. With an experimental narrative structure, the book, moves between exposing evidence of infrastructure space and learning to hack this space with forms that offers surprising aesthetic pleasures and political capacities.
Studies of three global infrastructure platforms—the free zone, broadband in East Africa, and ISO’s quality management—join contemplations about the dispositions, the ideological stories and the expanded repertoires of political activism that accompany infrastructure space.
(Turkish Translation, Metis, 2017; Italian Translation, Treccani, 2019 (https://www.iltascabile.com/societa/intervista-keller-easterling/); Introduction reprinted in Zeitschrift Fur Medienwissenschaft 1/2015; The Next Economy IABR, Rotterdam, 2016; publication of the Baltic Pavilion, Venice Biennale, 2016, Plot: Superurbano, 2016; Former West, MIT Press, 2017; and "Przestrzen Infra-struktu-ralna," in Autoportret quarterly).
Cover Design: Michael Oswell
Reviews:
John Harwood, "Global Entry: Keller Easterling’s Extrastatecraft, ArtForum, March, 2015.
https://www.artforum.com/print/201503/keller-easterling-s-extrastatecraft-50267
Michele Acuto, "Book Review: Extrastatecraft" International Affairs, 91:3, 2015.
https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/91/3/642/2326905
Jack Self, "Anarchy, State, and Utopia: The Power of Infrastructure Space," The Architectural Review,
December 29, 2014; https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/books/anarchy-state-and-utopia-the-power-of-infrastructure-space
Bradley Garrett, Antipode, December 16, 2018; https://antipodeonline.org/2018/12/16/extrastatecraft-the-power-of-infrastructure-space</https:>.
Jay Owens, Icon, January 23, 2015; https://www.iconeye.com/opinion/review/extrastatecraft-the-power-of-infrastructure-space.
Daniel Barber, CAA Reviews, January 29, 2018; http://www.caareviews.org/reviews/2843#.YebnjFjMJ24.
Manuel Shvartzberg Carrio, "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture," The Avery Reviewhttps://averyreview.com/issues/21/complexity-and-contradiction-in-infrastructure
