E-Project
Technology to the People
_Daniel Garcia Andujar

about Daniel Garcia Andujar
- Gordon Dalton

Daniel Garcia Andujar works under the banner of Technologies To The People (TTTP), exploring virtuality, authenticity, copyright, sponsorship, media and power as new technology and the access to it spreads across the globe..

It aims to question who has real access to technology and will there be a divide between 'info-rich' people and 'info-poor' people? How can we avoid this division and will it affect society in the future? What can we do to include more 'classes of people' in the new information global infrastructure?

Promoting, using and developing resources, as in the case of Free Software applications, will give a wide range of communities a greater degree of independence and self-control; on their own terms rather than through tainted corporate or government controlled models.

The net allows the concentration of knowledge and information to be broken down, and contributes new dimensions of globality and virtuality. It is an instantaneous medium at a relatively low cost that, albeit only potentially, fans hope for the democratization of culture.

The friction in the work of TTTP lies in the apparent freedom of the Internet, the knowledge it holds, and who actually owns or distributes this knowledge as a means of developing power. How this battle is fought out has serious repercussions regarding the growing problem of a digital, techno-illiterate underclass.

about E-Project, Technology to the People
Technology to the People http://www.irational.org/tttp/
E-Project e-barcelona.org, e-valencia.org, e-seoul.org, e-sevilla.org

Our society, economy and culture are built upon interests, values, institutions and systems of representation that in general terms limit creativity, confiscate and manipulate the artist's work and divert his energy towards a sterile confrontation and discouragement. Interested in revealing the configurations of power, the practice of art must establish social relationship mechanisms that help to ensure its long-term impact and enable it to take its discourse beyond the restricted confines of art-lovers and the institution itself.

In an attempt to offer alternatives of action, to open up spaces for confrontation and for the critique of a vision that is too restricted, with a one-dimensional, excessively hierarchical, instrumentalised and remote-controlled vision of the world that surrounds us, Technologies To The People was presented in late 2001 with the design and implantation of a series of internet platforms for discussing cultural policies, the first being e-valencia.org. The internet is indissolubly linked to the processes of structural change and the fundamental transformation taking place in our society furthermore, it is undoubtedly modifying the way we think, relate to one another, consume, produce and trade. In conclusion, the internet is transforming all of the activities that we undertake.

These e-projects are platforms that approach and question society's capacity for self-regulation in contexts of discussion and critique when the mechanisms for social control and the regulations imposed by traditional means are de-activated. This is a tool destined for collective use and to be implanted locally. Its aim is to be able to exert an influence in certain contexts through the force created by the collective involvement of numerous individual mechanisms, by people or by collectives that are dispersed yet which have the capacity to operate, speculate and develop a level of collective knowledge. The internet's digital space did not simply emerge as a means of enabling communication, as the public forum that it undoubtedly is. It also emerged as a new theatre for operations defined by social and power relationships. And it is undoubtedly a space where other actors can acquire visibility. In the global economy any organisation, however small its fraction of representation within the structure, can have a decisive influence in the global community by efficiently using the tools and resources offered by the new information and communications technologies.

Thus is born e-sevilla.org, as in their time were e-valencia, e-barcelona, as well as a long list of platforms that have been developed by, or that have emerged from, social processes or practical workshops such as e-seoul, e-wac, e-saopaulo, etc. Seeking the social participation of collectives, and local movements involved in critical processes concerning cultural policies and processes; generating new dynamics, breaking control mechanisms. A forum as the response to the growing instrumentalistion of public processes and for open, transparent discussion. Giving a voice to that which is not a voice, giving a voice to cutting criticism and expressive language. Some with more justification than others. Some with better manners than others. Some more morally demanding than others. Such forums are more than what we usually hear or read in other media. Always pushing the limits.

Technologies To The People, an artistic project by Daniel G Andujar, was created during the Discord project Sabotage of Realities that took place in 1996 in Hamburg's Kunstverein and Kunsthaus. Technologies To The People is part of the international collective irational.org - the international referent of web art. e-sevilla.org is part of a series of online platforms serving the artistic sector through Technologies To The People such as art.net.dortmund.de (aimed at all of those who are interested in web art-related issues); e-valencia.org (a discussion portal on Valencian cultural policy); e-barcelona.org (a discussion portal on Catalonian cultural policy); e-seoul.org (a working platform in South Korea); e-wac.org (An international platform that compiles theoretical texts and news on contemporary art); Artist's materials and their use in art (ma.exploradorarte.com) a platform for discussing, experimenting with and spreading artistic tools developed using freeware); and e-manifesta.org (a platform for discussion, critique and debate arising from the context of the 4th edition of Manifesta, the traveling European Bi-annual.

Sponsored by Technology to the People