Midiatatica.org and the cannibalization of Tactical Media

“Tupi, or not Tupi that is the question.“[1]

In his Manifesto Antropófago, Oswald de Andrade imagines a Brazilian modernism based on the cannibalization -and transformation- of European models. 75 years later, Miadiatatica.org continues this deglutition by proposing the translation of the tactical media movement to the Brazilian context.

Tactical media is the critical use and theorization of media practices for political and artistic goals. It is both a cultural and political response against the depolitization of technology, the deterritorialization of capital, and the increasing commodification of the arts. Tactical Media interventions range from performances to hackerism, and they offer a chance for micro-subversion, immediacy and intimate bonds between social actors. Critical Art Ensemble proposes a definition of tactical media as “the experimental wing of a(ny) given movement.”[2] In the case of Midiatatica.org this critical and experimental use of media is regarded as an alternative against mainstream artistic practice, global corporativism, and high tech media art: “One thing we had in mind while translating the Tactical Media Lab and its concept to the Brazilian reality was, throughout the entire process, never to close our eyes to such a context.”[3]

In 2002, Tatiana Wells, researcher and information architect, Giseli Vasconcelos, cultural agitator and web designer, and Ricardo Rosas, net critic and web master, launched Midiatatica.org, a mailing list whose aim was the organization of a tactical media laboratory in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The idea was to reproduce the Next 5 Minutes Festival’s format of Tactical Media Laboratories, which combined performances, exhibitions, lectures and debates.[4] To this end, the newly born Midiatatica.org subscribed to the 2003 Next 5 Minutes Festival edition, which would take place in Amsterdam, and whose goal was to spread the call for media oriented activism beyond the European borders. From December 2002 to March 2003, with neither budget nor governmental support, Midiatatica.org managed to mobilize 315 members who worked together in the production and realization of what it would be one of the first Tactical Media festivals in Brazil.

The festival Mi­dia Tatica Brasil gathered around 20 collectives that touched upon core issues for media activism: free software, the digital divide, copyleft, videoactivism, independent media. It also made explicit Midiatatica.org’s commitment to a low-tech version of media activism; the only possible version that can speak to the complex reality of a developing country such as Brazil.

Midiatatica.org and the continuation of the Cannibal project

More recently, Midiatatica.org has begun collaborating with Metareciclagem (Brazil), Waag Society (Netherlands), Sarai and Alt Law Forum (both based in India) in the design of interfaces and systems, research and development of low-tech solutions. It has also organized a series of performances, conferences and seminars aimed at disseminating information about Tactical Media (Submediologia, UpgradeSalvador, Autolabs, CiberSalao).

In consonance with its street interventions and public activism, Midiatatica.org has also encouraged the production and dissemination of theoretical material about cyberculture. Following a strict open source policy, the organization promotes the writing and edition of texts about cyberculture. A recent example of this is the creation of G2G study group, dedicated to the popularization and study of cyberfeminism.

A common trait of all projects is the pervasive spirit of revolt, appropriation… and cannibalism: “We cannibalize media practices to bring awareness of the periphery as a marginalized reality.”[5] This “peripheral” condition, this permanent displacement from the centre“ the metropolis, the art world core- facilitates the reception of Tactical Media in the Brazilian context. What could be more consistent with the cannibal spirit than the irreverence of hackerism or the subversive nature of open-source projects?

Indeed, it is in the subversive character of Tactical Media practices that we can hear the echo of De Andrade’s words:

“Only Anthropophagi united us. Socially. Economically. Philosophically. Only law in the world. Masked expression of all individualisms, of all collectivisms. Of all religions. Of all peace treaties. Tupi, or not Tupi, that is the question.”[6]

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1] Oswald de Andrade, Manifesto Antropófago,
The Tupi people were the first Brazilian Aboriginal group that made contact with Europeans when they first arrived in Brazil. Cannibalism was common among the Tupi and was believed to be a sign of respect towards a defeated enemy.
https://391.org/manifestos/1928-anthropophagite-manifesto-oswald-de-andrade/

2] Critical Art Ensemble, “Framing Tactical Media” in Next 5 Minutes: International Festival of Tactical Media September 11-14, 2003
https://www.scribd.com/document/397298495/Next-5-Minutes-International-Festival-of-Tactical-Media

3] “Back to Basics: The Revenge of the Low-Tech” Midiatatica.org https://midiatatica.desarquivo.org/documentos-relacionados/the-revenge-of-low-tech-autolabs-telecentros-and-tactical-media-in-sao-paulo/

4] http://www.next5minutes.org/about.jsp

5] “Que Venha a Mi­dia Tatica!” in Midiatatica.org
http://www.midiatatica.org/mtb/midiatatica.htm

6] De Andrade
http://www.lumiarte.com/luardeoutono/oswald/manifantropof.html