Politics of Internet Culture

Geert Lovink is a Dutch media theorist and internet critic, with a background in social movements and tactical media. In the 1990s he focused on the contribution of artists and designers in social movements through his concept of tactical media. In 2004 he founded the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam School of Interactive Media (HvA), a research centre dedicated to the social dynamics, politics and aesthetics of new media and internet in particular. He also teaches at the new media program of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam and is professor in media theory at the European Graduate School. Lovink is co-founder of the Internet groups nettime and fibreculture, and author of the books Dark Fiber:Tracking Critical Internet Culture (Electronic Culture: History, Theory, and Practice) (2002), My First Recession: Critical Internet Culture in Transition (2003), Uncanny Networks: Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia (2004) and Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture (2007).

His institute has recently organised conferences and related publications on urban screens, a critique of the creative industries, online video, network theory, the culture of search and Wikipedia research. His forthcoming book is on critical issues in Web 2.0. Geert Lovink will present his Keynote paper ‘Artistic Strategies Within Web 2.0: The Politics of Internet Culture’ at Artists Week. Adelaide International 2010 Curator Victoria Lynn interviewed Lovink in Amsterdam, October 2009, her visit to the Netherlands made possible by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.