I+C+i. Dear public

Until quite recently the public was, to paraphrase Samuel Beckett, a monster of a thousand backsides that had to be fed. Several factors started to flow together in the latter half of the twentieth century (second-wave avant-garde movements, digital games, strategies of participation ...) that seemed to give voice to a public that came to be given the denomination of player, prosumer or user. The increasing inclusion of the once-mute mass in artistic and political discourse gave rise to a dilemma: are we looking at a more democratic transmitter-receiver relationship or, as the May '68 poster suggested, are we taking one step further towards converting reality into a business? Does the need for communication and collaboration among citizens increase the margins of profit and control of the few? Roger Bernat invites us to a discussion on the role of the public in times of spectacular democracy.