11:30 - 12:50, de Brakke Grond (Grote Zaal)
Speakers: BINT Mbareh (Talk), Brahim Tal (Conversation), AYO (Conversation)

Sound and songs carry knowledge from voices of the past, they safeguards stories from those displaced or under violent systems trying to erase their cultures. In this session Knowing Through Sound we’ll go into conversation with artists who amplify the sounds of histories, bodies and resistance. 

BINT Mbareh focuses on water in Palestine, challenging Settler colonial epistemology by taking seriously Palestinian ways of knowing, from rain-summoning music to shrine pilgrimage as an instigator to political revolution. Brahim Tall shares the stories behind the work THE CHOIR OF DISSONANCE: THE CREATION OF THE SEA, an installation that listens as much as it speaks, through the singing of songs. They carry histories, relationships, and shared moments of trust. Christine Ayo will introduce us in the multifaceted project ​SO(N)R, through which she explores sound's materiality in remembering history. Ayo delves into the ceremonial practice of keening, drawing connections to her ancestry and a Luo wind instrument called Abu.

13:05 - 14:25, de Brakke Grond (Grote Zaal)
Speakers: Carolyn F. Strauß (talk), Second speaker tbc

We find ourselves in a moment in which technological progress is unfolding at an ever-increasing pace, fuelled by the belief in and promises of AI. The ongoing AI race has entered a new global phase, in which deregulation and massive new investments are set to position the future European Union as a top-tier competitor, on a par with OpenAI and other American AI giants. These developments are driven by a deep-rooted cultural belief in the hard power of technological speed, scale, and the extraction of raw materials and data. However, these developments will have far-reaching consequences for both local and global contexts and ecosystems; we therefore urgently need slower and alternative technological realities.

In this session we ask: What valuable, careful directions and alternative technological cultures could be possible? What can we learn and apply when looking to non-Western, queer and more-than-human knowledge? Carolyn F. Strauß is the editor of the Slow Technology Reader, whichgathers contributions from diverse disciplinary fields and knowledge traditions to consider technology through a “slow” lens.

15:40 - 17:00, de Brakke Grond (Grote Zaal)
Speakers: Mindy Seu (remote), Geert Lovink (Lecture)

The current state of the internet, steered by extractive social media and AI companies, is having a devastating impact on our mental health, culture and democracy. From warfare propaganda, the favoring of extreme-right political ideologies to tradwife and manosphere influencers who exploit and capitalise on the fragility and vulnerability of young men and teenagers. How can we escape these forces? When we resist and work on alternative solutions, what do we need to know about the different histories of the internet?

To understand potential future directions, and how the internet has partly evolved into its current states, we dive back into the sexual histories of the internet with writer and artist Mindy Seu (remote). How has technology shaped and been shaped by sexuality and the most intimate aspects of our lives?

We conclude the festival symposium with a lecture by and conversation with Geert Lovink, in relation to his latest book Platform Brutality. Discussing the toxic aspects which have fully permeated our personal, social and political lives. Social media no longer just distracts—it wounds and breaks things. How do we leave these platforms and design a new balance between analogue and digital.

Sat May 30 | de Brakke Grond
SYMPOSIUM DAY 2

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Sat May 30 | de Brakke Grond
SYMPOSIUM DAY 2

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Sat May 30 | de Brakke Grond
SYMPOSIUM DAY 2

Read more

Sat May 30 | de Brakke Grond
SYMPOSIUM DAY 2

Read more

Sat May 30 | de Brakke Grond
SYMPOSIUM DAY 2

Read more

Sat May 30 | de Brakke Grond
SYMPOSIUM DAY 2

Read more