Electronic promises of emancipation. Around the political potential of art in its intersection with new media

Abstract

From the initial stages of new media art practices, there has been an emphasis on their potential as social transformation tools. This paper focuses on the analysis of this alleged political potential, questioning its effectiveness. In recent decades, and within the fields of art and technology, there has been a perception that both spheres constitute privileged areas of political activity, once the political gradually receded from the public arena. Therefore, it becomes necessary to address how the recent return of the political has found in technology a clear ally. The principal aim of this article is to reexamine limitations, tactics and contradictions founded in this narrative of potential transformation and/or resistance through the use of artistic and technological tools, both in their specificity and their joint action. The text will be organized on the basis of a cartography of the sources and artistic practices that have dealt with this issue since the emergence of the intersection between art and technology.