Geert Lovink

Geert Lovink (1959, Amsterdam) is a media theorist and activist. Studied political science on the University of Amsterdam. Lives in Amsterdam.

Member of Adilkno, the Foundation for the Advancement of Illegal Knowledge, a free association of media-related intellectuals (Agentur Bilwet auf Deutsch). He is a radio program producer (for Radio Patapoe in Amsterdam and VPRO radio) and a co-founder of The Digital City, the Amsterdam-based Freenet and 'Press Now', the Dutch support campaign for independent media in Former Yugoslavia. Former editor of the media/art magazine Mediamatic (1989-1994). In 1991-1993 he lectured media theory in Bucharest and Budapest at the art academies there. Co-founder of the Amsterdam-based internet content providers desk.nl (culture/arts) and 'contrast.org' (politics) and a 'cultural ambassador' for Waag Society for Old and New Media. Regular contributor of Andere Sinema (Antwerpen) and member of the editorial board of ARKzin (Zagreb). In the spring of 1995, together with Pit Schultz, he founded the international nettime circle which is promoting 'net criticism'. In 2001 co-founded Fibreculture list.

Co-organized the Wetware Convention (Amsterdam, 1991), Next 5 Minutes, a international conference on public access and camcorder activism (Amsterdam, 1993), Ex Oriente Lux (Bucharest 1993), the first Romanian media/art event, MetaForum I/II/III (Budapest, 1994-6), Interface 3 (Hamburg, 1995) on the culture of computer networks, Next 5 Minutes II on 'tactical media' (Amsterdam, 1996). and moderated the (net) symposium of Ars Electronica 96 on 'memesis'. He was the project coordinator of the Hybrid WorkSpace, which took place during the Documenta X (1997) in Kassel. Later on co-organised Browser Day (Amsterdam, 1998-2002), Net.Congestion event (Amsterdam, 2000), and conferences such as Tulipomania DotCom (Amsterdam/Frankfurt, 2000), Dark Markets (Vienna, 2002), Networks, Art, & Collaboration (Buffalo, 2004), Incommunicado (Amsterdam, 2005), The Art and Politics of Netporn (Amsterdam, 2005), and New Network Theory (Amsterdam, 2007).

Among his publications are Adilkno's 'Empire of Images' (Amsterdam, 1985), 'Cracking the Movement' (Amsterdam, 1990/Berlin, 1991/New York, 1994) on the squatter movement in Amsterdam, 'Hoer zu oder Stirb' (Berlin, 1992) on free radio, 'Medien Archiv' (Amsterdam 1992/Mannheim 1993/New York 1997), 'Der Daten- dandy' (Amsterdam/Mannheim, 1994) and 'Elektronische Einsamkeit' (Köln, 1997)

In June 2004 founded Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. In 2005-2006 he was a fellow at the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin), where he finished his third volume on critical Internet culture, Zero Comments (Routledge New York, 2007).

Books

• with Eveline Lubbers, Bluf! 't moet kunnen..., Amsterdam, 1983, 250 pp. (Dutch)
• editor, with Rik Delhaas, Wetware, trans. Laura Martz, et al., Amsterdam: De Balie, 1991, 96 pp. (Dutch),(English)
• Hör zu – oder stirb! Fragmente einer Theorie der souveränen Medien, trans. Axel Diederich, Berlin & Amsterdam: ID-Archiv, 1992, 89 pp. [1] (German)
• Bilwet, De Datadandy, Amsterdam: De Balie, 1994. Floppybook. (Dutch)
  • Der Datendandy, trans. Petra Ilyes, Bollmann, 1994. (German)
• editor, with Diana McCarty, Pit Schultz and Vuk Cosic, The Beauty and the East, Ljubljana: Nettime (ZKP4), 1997.
• editor, with Pit Schultz (Nettime), Netzkritik. Materialien zur Internet-Debatte, trans. Bettina Seifried, Florian Rötzer and Thomas Atzert, Berlin: ID-Verlag, 1997, 220 pp. [2] (German)
• editor, with Toshiya Ueno, Electronic Street Cultures, Osaka: Inter Medium Institute, 2001, 143 pp. (English)/(Japanese)
• editor, et al., Metatag: 26 Hits on Technology and Culture / Metatag: 26 hits over technologie en cultuur, Amsterdam: The Waag, Society for Old and New Media, 2002, 119 pp. (English)/(Dutch)

• Dark Fiber: Tracking Critical Internet Culture, MIT Press, 2002, 382 pp. Brings together texts about new media culture worldwide, with essays on The Digital City Amsterdam and nettime, data dandyism, tactical media strategies and early critiques of dotcommania.
  • Dark Fiber, intro. Franco Berardi Bifo, Rome: Luca Sossella, 2002, 286 pp. (Italian)
  • Dark Fiber: auf den Spuren einer kritischen Internetkultur, Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2003, 342 pp. (German)
  • Fibra oscura: rastreando la cultura crítica de internet, trans. Manuel Talens, Madrid: Tecnos: Alianza, 2004, 310 pp. (Spanish)

• Uncanny Networks: In Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia, MIT Press, 2002. A collection of interviews with new media artists, theorists and critics from East and West-Europe, USA and Asia who reflect on their concepts and practices. It provides a critical context of ideas, networks and artworks that have shaped the past decade. [3]

• My First Recession: Critical Internet Culture in Transition, Rotterdam: V2_ & NAi, Rotterdam, 2003. Contains essays on Internet theory, dotcom literature, the issue of moderation, lists, blogs and open publishing and case studies of three list communities: Syndicate (Deep Europe), Xchange (streaming media) and Oekonux (GPL society debate). [4]
  • Internet non è il paradiso: reti sociali e critica della cibercultura, trans. Marco Deseriis, Milan: Apogeo, 2004, xxiv+328 pp. (Italian)

• Cultura digitală: reflecţii critice, ed. Joanne Richardson, trans. Laura Bucur, Cluj-Napoca: Idea Design & Print, 2004, 205 pp. Selected texts. (Romanian)
• The Principle of Notworking: Concepts in Critical Internet Culture, Amsterdam: HvA Publicaties/Amsterdam University Press, 2005, 29 pp. Inaugural speech at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, February 2005, with three chapters on multitude, network and culture, the theory of free cooperation and the dawn of the organized networks.
• editor, with Soenke Zehle, Incommunicado Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2005, 192 pp. [5]
• editor, with Lipika Bansal and Paul Keller, In the Shade of the Commons: Towards a Culture of Open Networks, Amsterdam: Waag Society, 2006.
• editor, with Jodi Dean and Jon W. Anderson, Reformatting Politics: Information Technology and Global Civil Society, CRC Press, 2006, 237 pp.

• Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture, New York: Routledge, 2007, 312 pp. Inquires the issues around blogs, wikis and social network sites; develops a "general theory of blogging".
  • Zero Comments. Elemente einer kritischen Internetkultur, trans. Andreas Kallfelz, Bielefeld: transcript, 2008, 332 pp. (German)
  • [http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=6CE219FB1F1A867A72725302EAEC630F Zero comments: teoria critica di internet, Mondadori, 2008. (Italian)

• editor, with Ned Rossiter, MyCreativity Reader: A Critique of Creative Industries, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2007.
• editor, with Sabine Niederer, Video Vortex Reader: Responses to Youtube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008, 315 pp.
• Dynamics of Critical Internet Culture, 1994-2001, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2009, 230 pp. Based on 2002 PhD dissertation. [6]
• with Pit Schultz, Jugendjahre der Netzkritik. Essays zu Web 1.0 (1995 – 1997), Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2010, 96 pp. (German)
• editor, with Rachel Somers Miles, Video Vortex Reader II: Moving Images Beyond YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011, 378 pp.
• editor, with Nathaniel Tkacz, Critical Point of View: A Wikpedia Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011.
• editor, with Mieke Gerritzen and Minke Kampman, I Read Where I Am: Exploring New Information Cultures, Amsterdam: Valiz, 2011, 264 pp. TOC. [7]

• Networks without a Cause: A Critique of Social Media, Polity, 2012, 220 pp.
  • Das halbwegs Soziale: Eine Kritik der Vernetzungskultur, trans. Andreas Kallfelz, Bielefeld: transcript, 2012, 240 pp. [8] (German)
  • Ossessioni collettive: critica dei social media, intro. Vito Campanelli, Milan: Università Bocconi: EGEA, 2016, xxv+227 pp. (Italian)
  • Redes sin causa : una crítica a las redes sociales, trans. Luingüics Comunicació, Barcelona: UOC, 2016, 308 pp. (Spanish)

• editor, with Miriam Rasch, Unlike Us Reader: Social Media Monopolies and Their Alternatives, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2013, 386 pp.
• editor, with Nathaniel Tkacz and Patricia de Vries, MoneyLab Reader: An Intervention in Digital Economy, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2015, 308 pp.

• Social Media Abyss: Critical Internet Cultures and the Force of Negation, Polity, 2016, 220 pp.
  • L'abisso dei social media: nuove reti oltre l'economia dei like, Milan: Università Bocconi: EGEA, 2016, 272 pp. (Italian)

• with Ned Rossiter, Organization after Social Media, Minor Compositions, 2018, 182 pp. [9]
• Sad by Design: On Platform Nihilism, Polity, forthcoming 2019, 192 pp.

Theses

• Dynamics of Critical Internet Culture (1994-2001), Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 2002. PhD dissertation.

Selected articles

• with Andreas Broeckmann and David García, "The GHI of Tactical Media", Dec 2002.

Links

• Lovink on INC
• Personal website
• http://houseoflaudanum.com/geert/
• http://www.thing.desk.nl/bilwet/#lovinken