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Michael Kibedi

@uxmichael.co
1.2K followers 484 following 131 posts

👊🏾💥 critical technologist // design researcher // writer // speaker // 📨 First and Fifteenth // 🦆 birdwatcher // 🍽️ collects menus (no, really) // 🔗 linktr.ee/uxmichaelco // 🌐 uxmichael.co

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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/09/2026
Interested in ethical, social, political, or philosophical questions about technology? Then submit an abstract to ETHICOMP 2027 by @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social in June 2-4 2027. Call for abstracts is open until 23:59 (CET), Monday 19 October. www.aanmelder.nl/ethicomp2027... #ETHICOMP2027
Promotional image for ETHICOMP 2027: Tech Saving Lives, a 3-day conference about ethics, philosophy, and technology to be held at Maastricht University in June 2027.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/08/2026
Dropping off a summer beach read. 🏖️ F&F Fiction reviews Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, published by @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social www.first-and-fifteenth.co/f-f-fiction-... #FirstAndFifteenth #FirstAndFifteenthFiction #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
F&F Fiction: Perfection
A dawning realisation settles as I finish reading Vincent Latronico’s Perfection (2025). The novel’s symbiotic protagonists are an emblem of our futile attempts to use our cultivated taste as an exten...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 15/07/2026
This one’s special and has been many months in the making. Fifteenth #20: On algorithmically aggravated addiction, with Dr. Romy Gad el Rab www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-20... #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
Fifteenth #20: On algorithmically aggravated addiction, with Dr. Romy Gad el Rab
10:20am, and I have already picked up my phone 16 times. I have been awake four hours and have used my phone for an hour and a half. These numbers will only go up as the day progresses. The smartpho...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/07/2026
First 20 is my review of Logging Off by @adelewalton.bsky.social www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-20-log... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
First #20: Logging Off
⚠️ This review is about a book that discusses self-harm and suicide. We have passed the point at which our digital worlds can be contained in a beige desktop PC. Our online selves are no longer acce...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 22/06/2026
New(ish) essay, Fifteenth no. 19: On water (15 June 2026): www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-19... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
Fifteenth #19: On water
London is a city of forgotten streams and lost rivers; of sedimented layers encasing ancient waterways that have long since been diverted underground; of stopped wells and springs that have fallen out...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 03/06/2026
And another review, First no. 19: Natural Connection by Joycelyn Longdon (1 June 2026): www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-19-nat... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
First # 19: Natural Connection
Technology is manufactured — chemically intensive and extractive processes are deployed to transform raw materials into sophisticated digital devices. Technology demands control — complex infrastructu...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 03/06/2026
New(ish) essay, Fifteenth no. 18: On the slopcore aesthetic (15 May 2026): www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-18... #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
Fifteenth #18: On the slopcore aesthetic
There is a strange glaze mediating your perception of the synthetic images in your feed. At first glance, you sense the altered luminescence before concluding it’s a visual shift that does not need co...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 03/06/2026
Thank you for having me @uxlondon.bsky.social #UXLondon #WhoseEnglishGetsToBeDefault #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad #CriticalAI 2026.uxlondon.com/speakers/mic...
Photo of Michael Kibedi, a critical technologist and design researcher, speaking at the 2026 UX London conference
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 19/05/2026
Less than 2 weeks until @uxlondon.bsky.social from Tuesday 2 to Thursday 4 June. I will close day 1 with “Whose English gets to be default?” — a critical examination of accent bias in voice interface design. 2026.uxlondon.com — get 20% off with my code JOIN_MK #UXLondon #uxmichaelco
Promotional image for UX London, a 3-day UX and design conference in London, advertising a talk called “Whose English gets to be default?” by design researcher Michael Kibedi with a 20% discount code JOIN_MK
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 15/05/2026
I’ll be speaking on day 1 of UX London 💁🏾‍♂️ #UXLondon @uxlondon.bsky.social 2026.uxlondon.com
2026.uxlondon.com
UX London 2026
A three-day celebration of user experience and digital design.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 07/05/2026
FROW at @heypresents.com 🙌🏾 #AllDayHey #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad
Photo of the All Day Hey! Conference screen in a cinema auditorium
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/05/2026
New review! First no. 18: Enshittification by Cory Doctorow 💩 www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-18-ens... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
First #18: Enshittification
If you are steeped in internet culture, this is a word that you might have encountered sometime in the last three years. This is a word that represents the motives and actions of an industry dominated...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 15/04/2026
New essay! Fifteenth no. 17: On unlearning. Link below. 👇🏾 www.first-and-fifteenth.co/fifteenth-17... #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
Fifteenth #17: On unlearning
Why do we do research? This might seem like an insultingly simple question, yet perhaps we have never paused to reflect before considering our honest answer. In the quest for a new job or promotion, w...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/04/2026
💥 New review! First no. 17: Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create by Dirk Vis (with bonus review of BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions) www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-17-res... #FirstAndFifteenth #BLKNWS #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
First #17: Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create
Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create is a slender manual written by Dirk Vis — a Dutch lecturer at Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague — who...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 15/03/2026
Fifteenth no. 16: On the Men (and sometimes Women) Who Corrupted Hadleyburg. Shady CEOs, Sianne Ngai's Theory of the Gimmick, why gimmicks are natural accessories of the tech industry, and a short story by Mark Twain. Link below. 👇🏾 #FirstAndFifteenth #TheoryOfTheGimmick #uxmichaelco
Four Forbes business magazines, each with celebrated tech CEOs who have in different ways disgraced their companies.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/03/2026
New review! First no. 16: The AI Con by @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social www.first-and-fifteenth.co/first-16-the... #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
First #16: The AI Con
The AI Con, as its name misleadingly suggests, is not solely about AI; rather, it is an assiduous exercise in excoriating the runaway hype engulfing the technology industry. Co-written by computatio...
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 24/02/2026
I really like BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions: its dialogue with Black history, Black futures, the ease with which Black creativity traverses these oppositional poles; and W.E.B. Du Bois 👈🏾 Peep the essay on Du Bois I wrote 2 years ago. open.substack.com/pub/uxmichae... #ThisIsNotAnAd #BLKNWS
Still from BLKNWS Terms & Conditions, showing a world map zoomed in on the Atlantic Ocean, South America, Caribbean, and Africa with red and green dots in the ocean visualising the thousands of Africans who were transported as enslaved people.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 19/02/2026
First #16 on The AI Con by @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social — “a wonderful riposte to the magical thinking propelling the indiscriminate deployment of generative AI.” S/O @hypestudies.bsky.social for capturing its spirit. Link below 👇🏾 #FirstAndFifteenth #CriticalAI #uxmichaelco
Photo of the book” The AI Con: How To Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create The Future We Want”, by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna. The cover a plain white cover with the word “The” in giant black letters, “AI” in giant red letters, and “Con” in giant black letters, and the book is shot close up and top down on a light green textured wool covered sofa material.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 19/02/2026
Distinct “tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher” call of a male great tit outside. First sign of spring, courtship, and breeding season. Now hearing a coal tit nearby. Competition is on for this patch of trees! #UKBirding #Birdwatch
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 09/02/2026
Next stop, Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 I will be delivering a keynote to open day 2 of @uxscotland.bsky.social Wed 10 – Thu 11 June. Over thirty talks, workshops, and case studies across four tracks. Discounts for freelancers. Scholarships also available. uxscotland.net #UXScotland #UXScot #uxmichaelco
uxscotland.net
UX Scotland
UX Scotland is a friendly international conference, established in 2013, for people working in UX, UCD, HCD, Service Design, or other digital specialisms
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 08/02/2026
These past few days were certainly stimulating, provocative and inspirational at the inaugural NO & __ forum on Technological Refusal at @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social thank you for having me! @danishanley.bsky.social 💥
A lecture in a university building filled with people. On the projector screen is the logo "NO & __" in reference to the forum on Technological Refusal
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 05/02/2026
Design Beyond the Human: essays on activism, anthropology, conservation, creative writing, design practice, design theory, economics, education, environment, ethics, history, indigenous knowledge, law, philosophy, poetry, politics, regenerative agriculture, science, sociology and technology.
Photo of a new book called Design Beyond the Human: Transdisciplinary Conversations About the Planet, published by Bloomsbury
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 22/01/2026
What a coincidence, and perfectly timed for the forum at in Maastricht University next month. www.aanmelder.nl/techrefusal
aanmelder.nl
‘No & ...’ : A Forum on Technological Refusal - Home
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/01/2026
First and Fifteenth returns in 2026. New website, new schedule. 💁🏾‍♂️ www.first-and-fifteenth.co #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco
first-and-fifteenth.co
First and Fifteenth
Essays from a critical technologist, told through the interpretative lens of Black Studies and conceptual art.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 15/12/2025
No & ...’: A Forum on Technological Refusal, Thursday 5 and Friday 6 February from the Critical Technoscience Platform at Maastricht University. Registration is now open! www.aanmelder.nl/techrefusal #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad
aanmelder.nl
‘No & ...’ : A Forum on Technological Refusal - Home
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 05/12/2025
Day out thinking about #BrainRot #AiSlop #CriticalAI
Promotional post of Brain Rot, AI Slop, and the Enshittification of the Internet showing an AI Slop image of Jesus juggling two shrimps (yes you read that right)
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 01/12/2025
First & Fifteenth, 2025 wrapped. #FirstAndFifteenth #uxmichaelco open.substack.com/pub/uxmichae...
open.substack.com
First & Fifteenth 2025 roundup
What I've said and read since summer
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 22/11/2025
Inspired by @rude1.blacksky.team, I've made my own evergreen reading list — the titles I repeatedly return to and re-read — which are central to my thinking and practice. The service runs on #atproto, made by @cosmik.network 👌🏾 #CriticalAI semble.so/profile/uxmi...
semble.so
First and Fifteenth evergreens (by Michael Kibedi) — Semble
Literature shaping my practice which are constant sources of influence, inspiration, and ideas.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 19/11/2025
How did my leisure time on the internet get turned into staring at a bunch of inboxes? 😩
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 14/11/2025
#ffconf is the reason I created my @uxmichael.co BlueSky account. 1 year old! 💁🏾‍♂️ 🎂
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 14/11/2025
Back again 🤗 #ffconf #uxmichaelco
ffconf an independent web dev conference in Brighton at the Duke of York cinema
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 10/11/2025
Tune. 🎹 www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5WY...
youtube.com
Futurisk - Lonely Streets (1982 Ocean Sound)
YouTube video by Futurisk
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 26/10/2025
Couple of weeks to go before I’ll be doing a guest lecture at the RCA for their Design Ethics class, part of the Design Futures masters MDes. 🤗 #RCADesignFutures #DesignFutures #HumanDecentredDesign #uxmichaelco
Royal coat of arms and logo for the Royal
College of Arts, one of the top arts universities in the world here in London. The white logo and text is superimposed on a dark purple-grey filtered photo of the Dyson building campus.
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Dani Shanley @danishanley.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
One week left to submit something! What's come in already is 🔥
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 20/10/2025
New publication!🚨 Fungi As Your Futurist by @sporesight.bsky.social 12 fungi-inspired design principles, with contributions from 18 global voices across multidisciplinary design and research (inc. me!) sporesight.co/fungi-futures #FungiAsYourFuturist #RegenerativeDesign #uxmichaelco
Fungi inspired promotional poster "Fungi as Your Futurist: A playbook for symbiotic futures” by sporesight studio.“Fungi as your Futurist” a limited edition print zine about regenerative design, opened to showing the 18 cross-disciplinary contributors.A hand pressing open “Fungi as your Futurist”, a limited edition print zine about regenerative design, to the pages listing “12 fungi principles”.
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Dan McQuillan @danmcquillan.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 13/10/2025
Nuh-uh-uh, that’s a chalet. Duvet is the word that French people use when they want to go somewhere quickly or express encouragement.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 12/10/2025
@lurkmoophy.bsky.social will you be posting that amazing @webdevconf.com intro video online somewhere? I really want to show my ma! 🥲 #WDC2025
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Jono Lewarne @cityeditionstudio.co.uk · 11/10/2025
@webdevconf.com was so good! Amazing to meet and listen to such talented and lovely humans. Thanks to @lurkmoophy.bsky.social and @alexolder.com for putting such a great event together
All the speakers from WDC 2025 on stage in front of a thank you messageSpeaker Michael Kibedi talking at a lectern in front of a slide featuring a book cover Speaker Henry Desroches talking at a lectern in front of a slide featuring a photo of traffic with the phrase “but as time wore on”
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 11/10/2025
Unsolicited NIC pic
Photo of a network interface card on a white background.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 11/10/2025
What a day @webdevconf.com #WDC2025 #uxmichaelco A thread 🧵
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Reposted by Michael Kibedi
henry ✷ @strange.website · 10/10/2025
some fairly twisted examples of AI actors in the "grief tech" space electric talk so far from @uxmichael.co
Michael Kibedi giving a talk on stage. The screen behind him shows examples of companies that use AI to resurrect sick puppets of dead loves ones
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 11/10/2025
Thank you @lurkmoophy.bsky.social for being a brilliant host, and to @alexolder.com for bringing us all together for this year's @webdevconf.com 💛🖤 Link to my deck in comments below. 👉🏽 📀 DVD extra: video of my talk at @ffconf.org last year: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fKs... #WDC2025 #ffconf
Luke Murphy, co-organiser of Bristol's Web Dev Conf, introducing Michael Kibedi and his talk "Death, and how tech forgot about mortality"
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 08/10/2025
This Friday. Bristol. There still a few tickets left 🏃🏾💨 My talk? “Death, and how tech forgot about mortality” webdevconf.com
webdevconf.com
WDC2025 - October 10 2025, Watershed, Bristol, UK
WDC is the web conference based in Bristol, taking place in autumn each year. With great speakers and attendees alike.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 30/09/2025
Human Decentred Design (2025 edition): A trilogy in four parts, presented at @contentrising.bsky.social earlier this year at @rbgkew.bsky.social in Wakehurst. 🍃 💚 www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTlz... #FirstAndFifteenth #ContentRising #uxmichaelco
youtube.com
Human decentred design | Michael Kibedi
YouTube video by Wilsome LLP
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 29/09/2025
nouvelle arrivée dans ma bibliothèque: APOCALYPSE NERDS écrite par @nastasiahadjadji.bsky.social et @oliviertesquet.bsky.social publié par @divergences.bsky.social #FirstAndFifteenth #PremierEtQuinzième #uxmichaelco #CriticalAI
Top-down photo of a critical technology non-fiction book published in French by éditions divergences, on plain white table, called APOCALYPSE NERDS by Nastasia Hadjadji and Olivier Tesquet. The book has plain bright yellow cover with both the title and authors in large text and the rest of the cover taken up with a blurb in French.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 17/09/2025
Throwback and reminiscing The Conference, Malmö in 2024: Human Decentred Design, 15 minutes. #HumanDecentredDesign #uxmichaelco #CriticalAI www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRdW...
Michael Kibedi, a tall Black man wearing a rather fetching yellow black and white striped sleeveless knitted top, onstage at The Conference 2024, delivering a talk in the cavernous Slaghuset venue space in Malmö. It was a two day conference and, I've got to be honest, a career highlight. It was such a vibe!
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 14/09/2025
Thank you @klingebeil.bsky.social for introducing me to HYPE: A Critical Field Guide. 🙌🏾 This will be a very useful pocket-sized reference as I begin to navigate @hypestudies.bsky.social johannesklingebiel.de/portfolio/a-...
A POV shot showing a hand holding a small passport sized self-published booklet called HYPE: A critical field guide by the German design researcher Johannes Klingebiel.
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 14/09/2025
@hypestudies.bsky.social is/was a conference with a difference. Non-hierarchical, welcoming and stimulating. After party at a cool little club, and many other (serious) memories. 🕺🏾 👨🏾‍💻 #FirstAndFifteenthOnTheRoad #uxmichaelco
Hype Studies party in the Sants neighbourhood of Barcelona, a small club lit with red light and lots of hypers having after hours getting down!
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Michael Kibedi @uxmichael.co · 10/09/2025
Pulling up to @hypestudies.bsky.social at UOC Barcelona #uxmichaelco #TomorrowsEssaysBeingWrittenToday
Photo of a redbrick building that has been newly renovated so that it contains a glass front and modern interior, which is one of the buildings of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona.
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