CoDEPI: #EstoNoEsInternet (2014)

In 2014 the Astrovadalistas collective started CoDEPI: Comisión de Discusión sobre el Espacio Público Intangible (Commission for the Discussion of Intangible Public Spaces) to coordinate actions related to telecommunication access and autonomy.

The first set of CoDEPI events was organized in conjunction with the exhibition Acciones Territoriales that took place in November of 2014, at Ex Teresa Arte Actual, in Mexico City. The exhibition proposed to “explore the concept of territory and resistances through four nodes of investigation: The idea of territory as Nation-State; Resistance through Memory; Navigable and Transitional Territories; and Everyday life: Imaginary, Representation, and Language”.

During a 4-day workshop, we worked with writers, journalists, artists, activists, and programmers to prepare a collaborative, temporary, clickbaiting site with critical content about Mexico’s telecommunication companies, and the government’s proposed telecommunication and energy reform laws.

The website was then hosted on a couple of modified WiFi routers, which were distributed throughout the city center, broadcasting the contents of the site on local wireless networks with names like: “Free Internet” and “Free WiFi”. Upon joining these networks, which weren’t connected to the internet, users would only be able to access the collaborative site with critical content about the internet and technology.

2014: Acciones Territoriales, Ex Teresa - México City, MX