TECHNOFEUDALISM IN IMAGES: FROM FEUDAL STRUCTURES TO DIGITAL REGIMES IN BRUEGEL AND BANKSY

Abstract

This article proposes a comparative reading of The Flemish Proverbs (1559), by Pieter Bruegel, and Mobile Lovers (2014), by Banksy, using the hypothesis of techno-feudalism as its interpretative framework. Through the analysis of these images, the study aims to demonstrate how visual forms of social critique, separated by four centuries, converge in the symbolic representation of servitude under different historical regimes. In Bruegel’s work, the grotesque and fragmented enactment of popular proverbs reveals a feudal order sustained by repetitive practices and standardized behaviors, in which laughter is not liberating subversion, but rather a mirror of circular and alienating rationality. In Banksy’s piece, the contemporary depiction of digital dependency shown in a couple ignoring physical contact in favor of their screens, highlights the subjective entrapment imposed by digital platforms. In both cases, the visual critique is not structured through a cohesive narrative, but through a montage of signs that reveals the symbolic layers of domination. The article argues that techno-feudalism represents not merely a shift in economic exploitation forms, but a continuity of symbolic and affective regimes, where subjection persists under new disguises: from the serf of the manor to the connected user. These images, more than visual documents, function as critical devices that unveil the aesthetic, social, and political mechanisms of servitude.