Joana Moll, an artist and researcher based in Barcelona and Berlin, develops work that critically investigates the impacts of techno-capitalist narratives on the literacy of machines, humans, and ecosystems. Her projects address key contemporary issues, such as the materiality of the internet, surveillance, social profiling, digital interfaces, and the energy consumption of technological infrastructures. The relationship between Moll’s work and digital colonialism emerges from her analysis of internet infrastructure, data exploitation, environmental impacts, and the control exercised by major technology corporations.
Internet infrastructure reflects historically rooted power relations. Control over submarine cables, data centers, and servers is concentrated in major corporations and hegemonic countries, creating a structural dependency that perpetuates asymmetries in access and digital sovereignty. Moll highlights how this infrastructure makes inequalities invisible and reinforces neocolonial dynamics, shifting environmental and social costs onto less privileged communities.
Data exploitation is another central axis in Moll’s work. Her piece “The Hidden Life of an Amazon User” reveals the complexity of data collection processes during a simple online purchase. Analyzing the amount of code required to load an Amazon page exposes how the user becomes an involuntary agent in generating profit for the platform while bearing undeclared energy and environmental costs. This process aligns with digital colonialism by transforming personal data into a commodity without individuals having real control over its use.
Surveillance and the militarization of civil society are themes present in projects like “The Texas Border” and “AZ: Move and Get Shot.” These works investigate how digital platforms turn ordinary citizens into monitoring agents, leveraging social media logic to encourage collective surveillance. This phenomenon transfers state responsibilities to the population and reinforces a control system based on voluntary and unpaid participation, expanding digital colonialism practices by normalizing distributed surveillance.
The internet’s and digital infrastructures’ environmental impact is a frequently overlooked but central aspect of Moll’s work. Projects such as “CO2GLE” and “DEFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREST” highlight the ecological footprint of digital activities. The artist demonstrates how the simple act of searching for information online has direct implications for energy consumption and CO2 emissions, raising awareness about the lack of transparency among major tech corporations regarding the environmental costs of their operations. The relationship between digital colonialism and environmental impact is evident in exploiting natural resources for device manufacturing and externalizing ecological damage to peripheral regions.
Digital interfaces, which mediate interactions between users and technological systems, are also a subject of critical analysis in Moll’s work. Her research demonstrates how these interfaces obscure the complex chains of exploitation behind digital services, reinforcing the disconnection between consumers and the material realities that sustain the internet. The opacity of these processes perpetuates digital colonialism, keeping users in a passive position regarding the structures that control their data and online interactions.
Joana Moll’s works make the material, social, and political dimensions of the internet visible, challenging the illusion of immateriality often associated with the digital environment. Her research exposes the intersection between technology, surveillance, data exploitation, and environmental impacts, revealing how digital colonialism dynamics shape the contemporary use of technological infrastructures. Through her artistic and investigative practice, Moll invites the public to critically reflect on the systems that govern digital life and their consequences for society and the environment.