(W)HOLE \\ Clusterduck

(W)HOLE uncovers hidden digital infrastructures through sculpture and AR, using manhole covers as portals to reveal interconnected systems.

(W)HOLE is a cooperative world-building project designed to uncover the often-overlooked world of digital infrastructures. It utilises various media, languages, and realms to provide participants with the tools necessary to engage with and act upon these hidden systems.

(W)HOLE takes the manhole cover as both symbol and point of entry. These overlooked objects, embedded in the everyday landscape, conceal vast networks of pipes, cables and infrastructures beneath our feet. Much like the digital systems that quietly shape contemporary life, these hidden worlds remain largely unseen. (W)HOLE draws them to the surface, revealing the infrastructures that underpin and organise our daily existence.

The project combines many forms of making and imagining, such as sculpture, sound, Augmented Reality, and 3D models. For Barnsley, (W)HOLE combines six manhole covers located across the town centre with corresponding AR works that reveal the hidden layers of digital infrastructure: Earth – the ground and materials everything is built on; Cloud – big computers that store and move information; City – the streets and buildings around us; Address – the systems that help us find things and people; Interface – the screens and tools we use every day; and User – each of us.

(W)HOLE by Clusterduck presented as part of AND Festival 2026. With support from Barnsley Council and the Italian Cultural Institute. Initiated by Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (KiöR), City of Zurich.