Vladan Joler (Novi Sad, Serbia, 1977) uses the cartographic approach to investigate objects and complex processes, analytically decomposing them into their constitutive elements. He aims to bring out their most profound connections. Assembling information from profoundly different sources – from statistics to economy, from philosophy to media theories – the artist generates a map describing a process he defines as “new extractivism”. This visual essay’s subject is the Internet. According to the artist, this technology transformed from a symbol of a participatory and decentralized future into a “machine for exploitation” of material resources, data, and people, generating a new form of digital colonialism.
Vladan Joler