Why I dash Power–Lines

In common use, “power” and “lines” are separated so that the word power modifies lines. Technically, a “power line” is a “transmission line.” I have placed a dash between power–lines to suggest a broader connotation. The term power–lines proposes two coequal nouns and implies that modes of power are intimately related to their lines (or means) of transmission. Adding a dash shows that power is both a noun and an adjective, gesturing toward what and how the lines transmit as well as the multilayered affects of the transmission. These lines transmit more than just electric power: they send a statement about how to perceive and understand the surrounding landscape.

In other words, “power–lines” conveys a metaphorical utility. The power is not just flowing through the wires; its is physically and, aesthetically transmitted to those within its physical and visual fields. The new name attempts to reflect the fact that the infrastructures we see rising and falling outside our car windows is only a starting point for thinking about how technology has charged and, in many cases, digitized human experience. The border lines of power, like the edges of language, create powerful lines that stream through various media—photographs, sentences, wires. Therefore, the study of power–lines blends together internal and external landscapes and thinks of new ways we can understand this ubiquitous feature of modernity.