This article by Pablo DeSoto was originally published in the 27th issue of the Dearq journal on July 1, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.18389/dearq27.2020.07). It is presented here as part of a joint collaboration to contribute to the dissemination of research, analysis, and opinions developed by the national and international academic community on architecture, urban issues, and related fields.
This article presents a historical reading of projects by the experimental architecture collective hackitectura.net, developed during the first decade of the 21st century within the newly emerging space of flows. Through grassroots collaborations with social movements, these proposals radically imagined and experimented with the emancipatory and socially transformative possibilities of then-nascent computing technologies, including Wi-Fi, streaming, and autonomous digital networks. By analyzing interventions in spatial arenas such as the border, the public square, and the situation room, the article builds a foundation for hackitectura.net's vision, highlighting its insights, achievements, and limitations.
