A shaggy robot dressed in Andean textiles has retraced San Martín’s independence route across the Andes. Named Guanaquerx, it fuses muleteers, microchips, and collective knowledge, winning the Golden Nica at Ars Electronica and sparking debate about freedom, technology, and place. A Liberation That Walks on Four LegsWhen Argentine artist Paula Gaetano unveiled Guanaquerx, it was not as a futuristic gadget but as a provocation. “The spirit of the work is understanding that a liberation that isn’t collective isn’t liberation,” she told EFE in Linz, where the project won Ars Electronica’s Golden Nica in Life and Artificial Intelligence. Just as San Martín’s liberation depended on collective endurance, this “artificial liberation” only advanced when everyone—people, animals, devices—moved together.