Dear colleagues,
We would like to cordially invite you to our Global Digital Cultures Soirée, which will take place on 23 November, 2023, between 18:00 and 22:00, at Brakke Grond.
The objective is to stage lively debate and stimulate fruitful exchanges between Amsterdam-based researchers working on Global Digital Cultures across the humanities, social sciences, and economics.
This time, we invite media theorist Geert Lovink and cultural anthropologist Corinne Cath to the stage, with the theme Surviving the Internet? The speakers will reflect on the contested role of digital infrastructure in society, and its consequences for people, global politics, and the planet.
Geert Lovink is a Dutch media theorist, internet critic and author of Uncanny Networks (2002), Dark Fiber (2002), My First Recession (2003), Zero Comments (2007), Networks Without a Cause (2012), Social Media Abyss (2016), Organization after Social Media (with Ned Rossiter, 2018), Sad by Design (2019) and Stuck on the Platform (2022). He studied political science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and received his PhD from the University of Melbourne. In 2004 he founded the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). His centre organizes conferences, publications and research networks such as Video Vortex (online video), The Future of Art Criticism and MoneyLab (internet-based revenue models in the arts). Recent projects deal with digital publishing experiments, critical meme research, participatory hybrid events and precarity in the arts. From 2007-2018 He was media theory professor at the European Graduate School. In December 2021 he was appointed Professor of Art and Network Cultures at the UvA Art History Department. The Chair (one day a week) is supported by the HvA.
Corinne Cath is a cultural anthropologist studying the politics of Internet governance, AI and cloud computing. She currently works as a postdoc at the University of Delft in The Netherlands with Dr. Seda Gürses and Dr. Prof. Linnet Taylor. She works on questions of computational infrastructure (cloud computing and mobile devices) in the context of the administration of justice. Her current research focuses on how cloud computing and AI are transforming society, the consequences of these transformations for public institutions—and the adequacy of existing technology policy efforts that touch on cloud computing. She is a research affiliate at Cambridge University's Minderoo Centre and a fellow at the critical infrastructure lab at the University of Amsterdam.
After brief presentations from these scholars, the floor will be open for questions and comments from participants. To prepare for the discussion, we encourage attendees to take a look at the amazing work of our speakers, free to download:
As always, our soirées involve food and drinks; the evening will start with drinks, and dinner will be served around 19:30. Attendance is free of charge.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Stefania Milan and Richard Ronald