Hello! 👋
My name is Daniel Armengol Altayó, and I am here to participate in the conception and creation of alternatives to the current digital paradigm. My hypothesis is that by having more clarity on how digital information operates and how we relate to it, we can coordinate efforts more effectively towards common goals.
This website is an experiment. Right now you can explore my artistic practice, and my plan is to share my research notes as well, understanding both as complementary to each other.
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↑ Frame from Pointless.
29784 shannons, 2020
Performance
We are information processing machines, living in the digital age.
In computing, the basic unit of information is the bit, a binary digit that represents a logical state. True or false, one or zero, yes or no, black or white, on or off, positive or negative.
Only by arranging ones and zeros we can create extremely complex systems that allow us to expand our capacity to process information, and consequently, radically modify our way of understanding and relating to reality.
I am a strange loop, 2017
Installation by Daniel Armengol Altayó
A device taking selfies of itself using another device in a strange loop of technological introspection.
Video · Screen recording · Photos
Exhibited at Mobile Week Barcelona and Digital Decade 5.
Follow, 2018
Interactive performance by Daniel Armengol Altayó
For two months, I was a human puppet, but who was really controlling whom?
Exhibited at Design Does.
↑ Gif by Juneza Niyazi.
Statement
“I don’t believe in art, I believe in artists.”
— Marcel Duchamp“Art does not transform anything, it does not change the world, it does not change reality. What truly transforms the artist, while evolving, transforming and completing his languages, is himself. And it is this man, transformed by art, who can, from life, transform reality.”
— Jorge Oteiza
Our existence depends on our ability to interact with the environment and transform reality.
We are constantly transforming reality with our actions, directly or indirectly influencing everything surrounding us, while our environment, part of that same shared reality, influences each and every one of our behaviors.
My practice investigates and intervenes in this constant flow of influences, in an effort to make sense of my private reality.
The result is nothing more than the capture of an internal process, an opportunity to share and participate in those stories devoted to establishing new patterns of behavior, based on commitment, responsibility, and respect for everything that exists.
Pointless, 2021
Performance by Daniel Armengol Altayó
I tried to capture my full attention by following random instructions every second, for 24 hours. Because, if attention is a limited resource that can be exploited, where exactly is its limit?
#artificialselfie, 2016
Robot by Daniel Armengol Altayó
A robot that takes selfies and shares them on Instagram. A device that behaves as people do, replicating a gesture that humans perform like machines.
Exhibited at Unread Messages and Art of Bots.
Yes, something is wrong. We are trapped in an endless chain of reactive behaviors, and because all events are interconnected, hence responsibilities should be also shared. We can not avoid the power dynamics that orchestrate our interactions, but we can acknowledge and embrace the politics embedded in each and every one of our acts.