Recap Food for Thought Inspiration Session September 2023
Experimenting Liveness. Introducing the UKRAiNATV Network: STREAM ART experiments between Amsterdam, Krakow and Kiev
9 Oct 2023 15:39 | Centre for Applied Research FDMCIOn 28 September, the monthly lunch meeting of the FDMCI Knowledge Centre and CoECI was held for researchers, teachers and students. This time, the Food for Thought was dedicated to the tactical media room UKRAiNATV, led by the Network Culture research group. Through a live connection, participants were in contact with Ukraine to learn about one of the world's most experimental media platforms. Through this platform, international artists, media freaks, activists, researchers, musicians, refugees, people in need, technofreaks and expats come together to literally connect with each other and the world around them. People were told how this groundbreaking media project came about and how a European network is being built (virtually and physically) at the same time.
Stream Art & Tactical Media
UKRAiNATV emerged at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and created a live-streaming collective uniting art, activism and technology. StreamArtStudio broadcast live from its gateway Kraków and created a hub for refugees displaced by the war. They quickly became a multiplatform outlet for young voices that remain unheard in traditional media. A few months later, the war began.
The research group Network Culture, aka the Institute of Network Cultures (INC), started a collaboration with UKRAiNATV. Recently, this exchange was further developed with a hub in Kiev, the art community Carbon and the Collider Creative Culture Cluster. They have joined forces at the intersection of media art, experimental electronic music and revitalisation of post-industrial areas, promoting Ukrainian art and culture locally and globally. As an expression of 'independence without borders'.
Through the research project, these collaborations will be further strengthened and expanded into a European network for Stream Art and Tactical Media.
About the research group Network Culture
Network Culture -also called INC- has a long track record of researching and developing hybrid formats, from developing an open-access digital publishing toolkit to critically exploring the possibilities of online video.
Lately, INC felt the need to expand the scope of its research to audiovisual content. During this period, they started developing a new audiovisual publishing series called The Void.
From interviews to documentaries and talk shows, through music performances and memes, The Void aims to be a place to experiment with those practices and methodologies, which go beyond 'just' text and meet a pressing need to express audio/visual possibilities.
Thus, the ultimate goal of this project is to create a platform open to external collaboration with independent artists and researchers around the world, virtually or physically.
About the speakers
Geert Lovink has been a lecturer and also founder of the Institute of Network Cultures (INC) at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam since 2004.
He is a Dutch media theorist, internet critic and author of numerous books. In 2003, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne, followed by a postdoc position at the University of Queensland.
From 2004 to 2012, Geert was also associate professor in the new media programme of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. In 2005 and 2006, he was a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Berlin. From 2007 to 2017, he taught at the European Graduate School (Saas-Fee/Malta) where he supervised five PhD students.
In December 2021, Geert Lovink was appointed professor of Art and Network Cultures at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam. The chair (one day a week until September 2026) is supported by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam.
Tommaso Campagna has been working at INC as a researcher and editor since August 2021. He holds a Research Master in Media Studies from the University of Amsterdam and has previously worked with various activists and research groups such as Tracking-Exposed, Hackmedia and Amsterdam Alternative.
He initially joined INC in 2019/2020 as a research and publication intern for the Making Public project. He then went on to train digital publishing interns, produce digital publications, work on research projects (tactical visual culture, our creative reset), along with maintaining the INC website and video publications.
In addition, Tommaso is a visual artist and works on documentaries.
Giulia Timis is part of UKRAiNATV and is also a researcher at INC.
Social Media
Are you interested in following UKRAiNATV? You can do so via YouTube, Instagram and ASP.
Join us also for the last Food for Thought of this year!
Would you also like to join the Food for Thought lunch session next time? Then mark Tuesday 28 November from 12 to 1 pm in your diary now.
The speakers, themes and location of this Food for Thought will be announced soon.