Through an almost imperceptible matrix of sensors, trackers, and cameras, capital gains access to new materialities of code and cognition. From entertainment to biometrics, the microscopic to the cosmic, life falls increasingly under the effortless monitoring and regulation of algorithms. Data centres configure and automate social relations, economic value guides decision-making and prediction, and artificial intelligence executes tasks with efficiency. Yet this automated dreamworld is more of a fantasy than a reality, and the results often perpetuate damage across human, more-than-human, and environmental domains.

Fantasy and Damage explores the multiple forms of injury that have been computationally constructed by the extractivist logic of tech. Questioning how hype and the desire for participation have been leveraged to create speculation and scarcity around new technologies, this panel examines the implications of desire, fantasy, and deception, their relations to extractive technological infrastructures, and the role refusal plays in contesting them.

With the support of the Cultural Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile, the Embassy of Chile in Germany and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of Chile.