In this keynote Beltrán will address the shifting social implications of technology. In 2011, social movements like the Indignados in Spain were working under the promise of social media as a “tool for freedom”. In 2020, the same platforms turned towards us with hegemonic systems of control driven by profit. Did we trust a false promise? Through his artistic practice and organising, Beltrán will attempt to deconstruct the reality hidden behind the current promises of the technological systems we are faced with. As counter strategies for profit-driven tech, he will introduce artistic interventions and political proposals towards developing alternative imaginaries and models of commoning technology.Manuel Beltrán is an artist, activist, and researcher. As an activist, he was involved in the Indignados movement in Spain, the Gezi Park protests in Turkey and several forms of independent activism. In 2015 he founded the Institute of Human Obsolescence, through which he explores the future of labour and the social and political implications of our relationship with technology. His enquiry into the economic and governance systems of the production of data has been shaping into a series of political proposals under the banner of the Data Workers Union. He is also the co-founder of ad.watch, a project exploring new forms of political propaganda in social media.

 

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