Some Cell Sites

Melbourne is in the throes of a real estate and infrastructure boom. However, another type of boom is flourishing largely unnoticed. Atop of rooftops, defunct silos, churches and government offices, telecommunication companies have installed mobile phone base stations—everywhere.

Some Cell Sites won ‘Best Book’ at the CCP Salon 2019 and was shortlisted for the Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design 2020.

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Over the last decade, ‘cell sites’ have become central to government and corporate surveillance strategies, but they are also essential to how we come to acquire knowledge, how we navigate through the city, and how we communicate with each other. Some of the images from the series often elude to the dystopian motifs of urban decay and alien invasions while others simply make visible how this indispensable infrastructure has altered the urban and rural landscape.

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The artist book features 35 cell sites from the hundreds that Davison photographed across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The book includes an essay which examines contemporary digital culture and its effect on society.

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