Tecnoflâneurs y faquires: El arte al otro lado de la brecha digital

Abstract

In this article we look at four international artists whose art has its origin in common civilian life and its concerns. The story of this art should be re-written in terms of a historiography of the average underprivileged common person, who does not reap the benefits of a discriminatory economy. Artists discussed here, namely, Daniel Cruz (Chile), Gilbert Prado (Brazil), Kausik Mukhopadhyay (India) and Probir Gupta (India) have been creating art on the impoverished side of the digital innovation divide, in their own niche and horizons of belief. Discarded gadgets, scraps, broken circuits or sensors, microphones and other junk are incorporated to create fragile but impactful installations. Junk animism and low-fi artificial intelligence often inform their work. Such artists do not inhabit traditionally known borders of nation, class or identity but only a space across fault lines which divide and exacerbate human society from within. Cruz’ project titled Surfonic exists on the margins of internet gateways. Mukhopadhyay uses scrap media for his installations. They exploit so much technology as just to animate their art. This commitment to voluntary defeatism upends a culture of spectacle. The artist is like a flaneur or technological fakir, quintessentializing human experience against the greed and pretensions of a global market of art.