Other computational rhythms in accelerated times

Slow and local AI as counter-narrative strategies to hegemonic artificial intelligence

Authors

Keywords: IA lenta, arte digital, permacomputing, soberanía tecnológica, pedagogía crítica, diseño crítico

Abstract

This article examines a set of artistic practices linked to the slow AI movement that operate as counternarratives to extractive, centralized, and corporate artificial intelligence. Drawing on the framework of permacomputing, the text proposes three analytical categories: infrastructure and materiality; design and operability; mediation and pedagogy. Through case studies such as Compost Computer (2025), A definitively unfinished AI (2025), and Project Patching-tik hoeh koe (2024), it examines deliberate constraints of energy, waiting, and intermittency, alongside choices around local execution, documentation, modularity, decentralization, and data curation. It argues that these choices enable systems that can be reactivated, are legible, and can be maintained by communities, shifting the discussion away from performance and toward governance and care. Finally, it highlights potential avenues for strengthening already emerging within slow AI practices: offline-first infrastructures, situated archives, and pedagogical devices for critical literacy.

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Author Biography

Moisés Mañas Carbonell, Laboratorio de luz. Universitat Politècnica de València

Multimedia artist, researcher, lecturer, and member of the Laboratorio de Luz research group since 2000, and full university professor since 2017, with 6 doctoral theses supervised and more than 20 Master's theses (TFM) in the last 10 years in the area of Art and Technology. They also hold two research activity accreditations recognized by the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity (CNEAI). Evaluator for the Catalan Education Agency since 2021. Faculty member of the Sculpture Department since 2001, teaching undergraduate, master's, and doctoral courses related to Art and Technology (Interactive Installations, Interaction and Interface Design, Interactive and Electronic Media, Medialab and 3D Printing, Programming Fundamentals).

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Published
31-07-2026
How to Cite
Rangil Gallardo, M., & Mañas Carbonell, M. (2026). Other computational rhythms in accelerated times: Slow and local AI as counter-narrative strategies to hegemonic artificial intelligence. Arte Y Políticas De Identidad, 35, 9–24. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/reapi/article/view/704601
Issue
Vol. 35 (2026): Visualidades y narrativas contestatarias: tecnologías disidentes, ecologías críticas y políticas de la imagen
Section
Articles

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