* 1956 in Lleida, ES, lives and works in Barcelona, ES
In his collaborative works Catalan artist Antoni Abad uses consumer technology to create networks of marginalized individuals, as in megafone.net, a project initiated in 2004, which is based on face-to-face meetings between participants who then collaborate to post online audio recordings, videos, and photographs using their mobile phones. His latest project BlindWiki, previously beta-tested in Rome and Sydney, has been developed for and in collaboration with blind and partially sighted participants in Berlin, who use smartphones to verbally document and share their geotagged experiences, memories, and on-the-go thoughts. Their site-specific audio contributions are accessible to the public, who can listen to them in situ throughout the city on smartphones or anywhere online. Part social network, part Situationist geo-tag of an urban landscape, and part participatory archive—the project gives voice to people for whom representation is not a given aspect of daily life.
List of works
BlindWiki, Unveiling the Unseen – A citizen network project involving participants with vision loss, 2016
Smartphone application, guided tour, website, workshop
Courtesy Antoni Abad
Commissioned and coproduced by Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
With the support of Institut Ramon Llull; Acción Cultural Española; Spanische Botschaft in Berlin