Can Ethernet Cabling Become Art?

Image: ChrisDag

Yup.

(More pictures at the link below.)

When data center cabling becomes art [Royal.Pingdom.com]

[#1 posted by Anonymous , January 24, 2008 2:52 PM]

Heh, I'm a panel wirer in the UK - I wire control panels, mains distribution systems and switchgear circuitry, and I have always considered my work to be an art form, and have strived to make my finished products as artistic as possible.

Unfortunately, my work will not often be seen as it goes on the inside of rarely-opened control panels, and I'm not allowed to photograph any of the panels I build, as the control panel industry has not yet heard of open source hardware, lol.

The most recognition I will ever get for my creative outlet is my monthly pittance and the occasional "nice neat wiring" comment from the boss.

One day, I'm going to create a wiring project that serves no electrical purpose and has funky, artfully routed wiring.

Also, it will be loomed properly with waxed cotton lacing cord, none of those silly little plastic cable-ties that I have to use at work.

One day.

-
Slippy Lane

[#2 posted by idl3mind , January 24, 2008 3:03 PM]

simply beautiful

[#3 posted by dculberson , January 24, 2008 3:06 PM]

Wait ... #3... is that Gulf Oil livery? It's a racing rack!

I've put together a 4-space wall rack that looked about 1/4 this good - and it was a lot of work. These guys are all very good.

[#4 posted by ianm , January 24, 2008 4:20 PM]

well, its no girl-throwing-herself-on-random-males-while-being-photographed, but its ok.

haha, this is far more engaging, intelligent, and satisfying than the 'art' featured on the main page today. i appreciate the elegance of functional efficiency.

[#5 posted by Jake0748 , January 24, 2008 9:57 PM]

In answer to the question "Can Ethernet Cabling Become Art?", my first reaction is to say UGH!, NO!
As someone who has spent too many hours in dusty, spider-infested, claustrophobic "wiring closets" and "server rooms", I could only shudder. But I can also recall many elegant and neatly done wiring jobs that impressed me. Also I know that things always seem to look nicer in photos than they do in real life (I have tons of pictures taken in my house that look really cool, you don't see the dust bunnies under the couch or the minor destruction the cat has caused lately). So I guess my final answer is maybe.

[#6 posted by RHB , January 25, 2008 1:50 AM]

And there is a good reason to be neat. I was trained as an electrician, learned to wire panel boxes from a master electrician, In the case of 440/220/110 volts there is safety in neatness. Believe me. Tracing cuircuits neatly, squaring your leads, and labeling is mandatory some places.
And yes it is nice to look at.

[#7 posted by phead , January 25, 2008 3:06 AM]

Not really a true homage to his noodliness is it, quantity is king!

http://gallery.ksilebo.com/randimg/yellow_wall.jpg.html

[#8 posted by Anonymous , January 25, 2008 3:36 AM]

It's not art, rather it's the product of good design and craft skill of a high order (and no less worthy for being so). It's done to achieve a purpose, but done in such a way as to be both efficient and aesthetically pleasing- form following function. Technical skills like this aren't sufficiently valued

[#9 posted by imipak , January 25, 2008 5:00 AM]

They're nice pictures, and all, but real cable monkeys use lacing, not ties...

http://www.dairiki.org/hammond/cable-lacing-howto/

http://www.tecratools.com/pages/tecalert/cable_lacing.html

http://www.tellurian.com/california/img_8065_std.jpg

(and check the rest of the images in that directory - google images "cable lacing" has much more.

Enjoy ;)

[#10 posted by chrisdag , January 25, 2008 6:37 AM]

{just left the same comment on the pingdom site }

Hi, I’m “ChrisDag” and just wanted to leave a quick note. I’ve done tons of cabling in my time but don’t get to do it as much because my company has finally figured out that they can use me for more profitable work than basic cluster assembly.

The picture credited to me above was taken by me but the wiring is not my work. The picture was taken in a client datacenter during a consulting and technical training trip. I received permission to take and use the pictures as long as I was careful to not identify the organization.

Just wanted to make this clear - it was a beautiful wiring job but the work is not my own. I only took the picture in this case.

[#11 posted by kiki1971 , January 25, 2008 8:58 AM]

In response to Jake0748 and Annonymous....cabling can absolutely be art...anything that you can do with skill and technic is art.

Saying that something isn't art because it's the "product of good design and craft skill of a high order" makes no sense at all.

If anything, high-level craftmanship and good design are hallmarks precisely of art.

As soon as you are designing efficiently and with skill...you are producing art. Unless you have a very very limited definiton of what art is.

[#12 posted by aislefive , January 25, 2008 10:26 AM]

I toured the data center that hosts LinkedIn.com among others. There's something beautiful about the perfect repetition and layers involved with cabling. Mark Richards' book has some gorgeous cabling in it:

http://www.corememoryproject.com/main.php

(as reported in
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/15/core-memory-a-visual.html )

[#13 posted by l0k1 , January 25, 2008 3:50 PM]

i think it is art when it's done well. i used to work in a computer repair department and i really loved the way the system builders artfully routed cables around and hitched them to various other things, the tech who worked next to me (i was basically the receptionist) taught me a neat trick with coiling the cables to reduce their tangle factor and i use it all the time now when i build computers. a well thought out cabling setup is a delight to behold and easy to work with, perhaps it is not an artform that regular people would appreciate but it gives geeks a warm fuzzy glow in their heart to see an efficient and tidy wiring job.

[#14 posted by the specialist , January 25, 2008 10:50 PM]

the tying of cables is not an art but taking photographs of it and calling it art is art.

[#15 posted by pinup57 , January 25, 2008 11:55 PM]

@kiki971: sorry, but your's is a misconception. A realisation takes more than craftmanship and good design to be called "art". This misconception is general these days. Comment#14 by the specialist is more correct. Quote from wikipedia: "Generally art is a (product of) human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; by transmitting emotions and/or ideas. Beyond this description, there is no general agreed-upon definition of art, since defining the boundaries of "art" is subjective." Basically, since Marcel Duchamp, if the creator says his work is art then it is, because it was produced with the intent to be so. Just being "beautiful and well made" doesn't make an object "art", it remains what it is even if it's pleasant to look at. (which btw is not mandatory for "art")