Manuel Beltrán is an artist, researcher and educator whose work critically examines the socio-political, cultural and economic contestations of technology. Through his practice, he exposes the hidden mechanisms and complexities of technological systems, focusing on the power dynamics that emerge from their entanglement with ideology, capital and society.

His works primarily take the form of art installations, conceptual frameworks, interventions, networked infrastructure and experimental media. In recent years, his work has centered on the creation of technological artifacts that deconstruct and recontextualize the material and social relationships between humans and machines.

In 2015 he founded the Institute of Human Obsolescence, a project through which he explores the future of labor in the context of advances in artificial intelligence and automation, and the economic and governance systems surrounding the production of data. In 2019 he co-founded ad.watch, a project exploring methodological, aesthetic and discursive responses to understand the informational turn in propaganda and influence online.

Manuel regularly contributes to discourses about art, technology and media, and his projects have been featured in a wide range of international press. His work has been exhibited internationally in venues like CMU Art Center, esc medien kunst labor, Centro Cultural Rojas, Khoj International Artists’ Association, TodaysArt International Festival for Digital Art, EAC Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, S.a.L.E. Docks, NRW Forum Wirtschaft und Kultur Museum and BAK Basis voor Actuele Kunst.

His work was awarded an Honorary Mention at the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica, and has been nominated for several awards, including The Index Project Award, Icarus Award, Young Masters Award Media Art Festival Leeuwarden, Young Talent Dutch Design Week and Blink Youngblood Award.

Since 2020, Manuel has lived and worked in Bangalore, where he pursues a PhD on Computational Advertising Transparency and the Public Sphere, while serving as Assistant Professor and Course Leader of the HCD program at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology.

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