[Zine] Counter-acting lexicons for the Terms of Service

Digitally textured everyday is controlled by Terms of Service agreements. These documents are used to legitimize extractivist data practices of technology companies. To do so, they tap into the power of words. By gathering words in a specific flow and structure for a specific purpose, these create a specific type of narrative. They define who is who, who can do what, who can’t do what and set the rules of the game serving to the benefit of the technology companies. Through these tactics, they make a specific type of world for us to live in and control our sense of being online and offline. Counter-acting lexicons for the Terms of Service is an exploration into the power of words in shaping our worlds. At the garden of BioArt Labs, lexicons that attempt to change the conversation for imagining eco-social contracts as alternatives for the Terms of Service will be exhibited. Using the letters of ‘eco-social contracts’ as a starting point, the installation presents counter-acting vocabularies that think with humans and nonhumans rather than only with corporations. How about ‘E’ for ‘entanglement’, ‘C’ for ‘care’, ‘N’ for 'negotiation'? This exhibition is a conversation starter to change the conversation for imagining eco-social contracts.