YOSHUA OKÓN

"DEMO" is a project by Yoshua Okón and Juan Obando. Through it, the artists explore the phenomenon of Astroturfing and frame its repercussions while questioning the construction of modern democracy.

The term “Astroturfing” designates the practice of phantom funding for specialized agencies to produce artificial public demonstrations and pass them off as organic, genuine, and spontaneous. These —primarily private— agencies use unemployed people and precarious workers as actors to play activists in their events who are required to sign releases that forbid them to disclose that they are paid performers. At the same time, these agencies work hand in hand with media outlets to produce viral news and highly emotional images that generate massive consensus on the interests of their clients. The term refers to the artificial grass brand “Astroturf,” in opposition to “grassroots” activism —highlighting the contrast between fake social movements against organic ones.