[NetBehaviour] César Escudero Andaluz. So many ways to mess up with surveillance capitalism. Interview with Regine Debatty.

[marc.garrett]

César Escudero Andaluz. So many ways to mess up with surveillance capitalism. Interview with Regine Debatty.

Back in 2016, César Escudero Andaluz and Martín Nadal hacked an old calculator and turned it into Bitttercoin “the worst Bitcoin miner ever”. Relying on a rudimentary technology, the machine takes an excruciatingly long time (estimated to an eternity) to validate the pending transactions in the blockchain. Meanwhile, the complex computational operations are printed on a seemingly endless scroll. I’ll be forever grateful to the two artists for creating a work that materialises so clearly the invisible calculations, physical dimension and ecological impact of blockchain technology. It’s one of those works that make your life easier when you have to explain an otherwise abstruse technological innovation.

Today I’m interviewing César Escudero Andaluz (hopefully one day, i’ll get to talk with Martín Nadal as well!) César is doing a Ph.D at the Interface Cultures department, Kunstuniversität Linz. His practice as an artist and researcher investigates Human-Computer Interaction, interface criticism, digital culture and its social and political effects. Although it always has elements of playfulness and humour about it, his work is grounded in the kind of socio-political interrogations that make our time so infuriating and stimulating.

The artist’s critical approach to technology can be found in works such as an orchestra of musical instruments that mine for Bitcoins, a 3D printable kit to cut undersea internet cables, a series of cassettes which audio emerges from the data extracted on the social media profiles of The Yes Men, Nuria Güell, Oliver Grau, Noam Chomsky, Alexei Shulgin, Lynn Hershman, Vuk Cosic, etc.

https://we-make-money-not-art.com/cesar-escudero-andaluz-so-many-ways-to-mess-up-with-surveillance-capitalism/
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