An independent research space concerning contemporary issues. This is neither a formal academic publication nor an opinion column: it is analytical work supported by data on topics I consider relevant and worthy of rigorous examination, even when they fall outside specialised academic circuits. Open to co-authorship. Proposals to: hola@juanesteban.art
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Entries: 246
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Who can be seen
In 2017, researchers attempted something simple: to ascertain the origin of the photographs used to train image recognition systems. They took ImageNet, one of the datasets that defined the development of contemporary computer vision, and examined, among the images whose origin they could trace, which country had operated the camera.…
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Eight plus four
In museums across the world, there are many of Rodin's Thinkers. Not pirated copies or imitations: fine bronzes in serious collections, all originating from the same model. The question of which is the original does not have the answer one expects; and determining why necessitates examining how a sculpture is manufactured and, in particular, who decides…
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The work that sustains culture and appears in no data
In any organisation, there is work that sustains it and which is almost entirely unrecognised: taking the minutes of a meeting; organising an encounter; accompanying a new arrival; mediating a conflict that was becoming entrenched; remembering birthdays, that supplies need replenishing, that a certain person…
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Who vouches on digital platforms
Desde hace unas semanas participo como verificador en la plataforma Eurosky/mu.social. La fundación que presido, Kripties, ha sido designada verificadora de confianza en la red social europea. Ahora puedo poner junto a la cuenta de otra persona una marca que dice «esta cuenta es quien dice ser». Lo cuento con ilusión y, precisamente por eso,…
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Culture in Málaga and the distribution of duration
Propiedad, decisión y trabajo cultural en Málaga. De la serie iniciada en «Contra la vida optimizada». Este texto se centra en Málaga, pero no parte de que Málaga sea una anomalía. Durante las últimas décadas muchas ciudades han integrado la cultura en estrategias de regeneración urbana, competencia territorial, atracción turística y construcción de marca. La…
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Faster than the courts
En febrero de 2025 más de seis mil personas, la mayoría artistas, firmaron una carta pidiendo a Christie’s que cancelara una subasta. La casa iba a vender, por primera vez en una venta entera dedicada a ello, obra hecha con inteligencia artificial, y la carta denunciaba que muchas de esas piezas se habían creado con…
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Against the optimised life: which forms of culture resist incorporation
En The Death of Shame Is Tearing Us Apart, Jay Caspian Kang parte de una anomalía deportiva para describir una transformación moral más amplia. En la NBA, algunos equipos pierden a propósito porque el sistema de incentivos convierte la derrota presente en ventaja futura. La práctica no es nueva; lo decisivo es que ya no…
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The system or willpower
Si un adolescente pasa seis horas al día en el teléfono, la conversación pública sabe de quién es la culpa. Suya, por no tener disciplina. O de sus padres, por no ponerle límites. La solución que se propone es siempre del mismo tamaño que el culpable señalado: más fuerza de voluntad, más control parental, una…
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To whom it is returned
In July 2026, the University of Oxford approved the return of thirty-nine skulls. They had spent nearly a century in the Pitt Rivers Museum, one of the world's great ethnographic museums, catalogued as a museum does: human remains, provenance, inventory number. It was announced in September. At the time of writing this, they had not…
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Almost always, one loses
My friend and artist Juan Carlos Rica sends me a quote without telling me who it is by. I read it twice: it comes from an interview with Tim Hunt in XL Semanal, and it says, more or less, that in science you spend most of your time being wrong and suffering, and that what hooks you is the game in…