Two cable samples, not obvious museum ‘heroes’, brownish

Jemimah Widdicombe

Museums Victoria / Collections & research / Journals / PRISM / PRISM Volume 1 / Two cable samples, not obvious museum ‘heroes’, brownish
A bright orange and yellow sunset interspersed with grey clouds.
Clouds over Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park at sunset. Open AI CEO Sam Altman has spoken about AI as ‘magic intelligence in the sky’. / Source: Museums Victoria / Photo: Emma Hutchinson

Introduction

Identified as ST 28747.1 and ST 28747.2, these Museums Victoria objects are two of the countless telegraph cables preserved indefinitely in collection stores around the world. Throughout history, communication networks have evolved, leaving behind the physical remnants of once-cutting-edge infrastructure. The telegraph was no different, and today’s artificial intelligence (AI) systems follow a similar trajectory — built on layers of extraction, labour and mythmaking. 

DOI

https://doi.org/10.24199/SVJY9790

Citation

Widdicombe, J. (2025). Two cable samples, not obvious museum ‘heroes’, brownish. PRISM, 1, 7–12. https://doi.org/10.24199/SVJY9790 

Gallery

A sketch of massive steamship Great Eastern as it sails rough seas, with several smaller boats sailing in the foreground. An invitation from 1858 to a dinner commemorating the laying of the Atlantic cable, to be held at the Metropolitan Hotel. Two sketches side-by-side, one showing a lush forest and the other showing the effects of deforestation.

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