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President of Fundación Telefónica

Without the shadow of a doubt, the social transformations we arewitnessing at the beginning of this new millennium have their origin in theimpact of information and communication technologies, and veryespecially Internet.The digital revolution is cutting across traditional space-time borders tomake possible the phenomenon of communication at a global scale aswell as the development of interactivity in a totally unprecedentedfashion.As a universal means of communication, Internet is a true web that notonly enables traffic between opposite sides of the planet, but also to joinand take part in virtual communities, that is, in what we know as networksociety.In the same way as the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg meanta seachange in the then existing cultural model, the irruption of Internet istransforming the role of art and culture, aesthetic production and art andscientific techniques. Under the influence of Internet, we are seeing a truetransformation in the ways of creating, producing and distributingartworks and indeed a questioning of the very concept of creation.banquete_nodos y redes showcases over thirty digital projects combiningtechnological innovation with art creation, exploring the connectionsbetween art, science and technology.At this crossroads, I wish to celebrate Fundación Telefónica’scollaboration with LABoral, the involvement of SEACEX, and thecoordination with ZKM, in maintaining an ongoing line of research into thecomplexity of the art fact associated with supports, media and languagesof expression, and also in the proposal for a reflection on the newparadigm of the Internet era contained in this exhibition.