2026-06-14 –, Hauptbühne (Saal 1)
Are you still stuck on the platform -- or ready to move beyond it? Yes, we are living through an accelerationist, techno-authoritarian phase of the internet, but that is precisely why we need to identify the exits already taking shape. We will map the cracks in the system: decentralized infrastructures, collective digital practices, and emergent cultures of autonomy that challenge the regime of “cloud rent” and passive usership. What would it mean to reclaim agency beyond endless swiping and prompting? How can we turn doomscrolling into coordination, and platforms into terrains we either reshape or abandon? This talk explores both practical and speculative strategies to overcome platform dependency, rebuild the digital commons, and develop a network culture that is once again participatory, resilient, and free.
Geert Lovink is a Dutch media theorist, internet critic and author of Organization after Social Media (with Ned Rossiter, 2018), Sad by Design (2019), Stuck on the Platform (2022) and Platform Brutality (2025). In 2004 he founded the Institute of Network Cultures (https://www.networkcultures.org) at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), which will become independent in September 2026 after his mandatory retirement. The centre is focused on revenue models in the arts (MoneyLab), social media critique and mapping the Gen Z mental landscape and expanded publishing experiments. INC is part of support campaigns for Ukranian artists, in particular UkrainaTV (Krakow) and the related StreamArtNetwork.