Material Algorithms: Bridging the Gap between the Virtual and the Physical in Latin American Digital Literature

• Published in: Journal of Latin American cultural studies : travesía Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 389 - 412
• Main Author: Saum-Pascual, Alex
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03.07.2025; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Algorithms; Commodification; Computer & video games; digital literature; Electronic literature; Latin America; materiality; modernity; Pollution; Racial violence; Technology
• ISSN: 1356-9325; 1469-9575
• DOI: 10.1080/13569325.2025.2473387

This essay investigates the complex interplay between the virtual and physical realms in Latin American digital literature through the lens of material algorithms. By analysing three digital works - Yto Aranda's La mano del hombre (Chile, 2007), Milton Läufer's 8 Minutes 46 Seconds (I Can't Breathe) (Argentina, 2020), and Eugenio Tisselli's La puerta (Mexico, 2017) - I explore how these artworks poetically engage with their materiality, bridging the conceptual divide between digital technologies and their environmental impacts. Aranda's work connects ocean pollution with digital technology, highlighting early awareness of technology's environmental repercussions. Läufer's digital poem critiques racial violence, reflecting on the algorithmic abstraction of and commodification of human life. Tisselli's video game underscores the ecological footprint of digital infrastructures, emphasising the material impact of virtual technologies. Through these analyses, I argue that Latin American digital literature challenges mainstream digital culture by foregrounding material aesthetics and local contexts that, in turn, affect a global environmental system. Ultimately, I propose that understanding the material entanglements of digital objects can help close the gap between the virtual and physical worlds, bringing a critical ecological perspective to the study of digital literature in Latin America.