After the Net
We are seeking existing online projects that address the theme of the exhibition After The Net, dealing with issues of un/openness, in/security, un/stability and systems of control. Five selected works will be displayed online as part of the exhibition and will receive a fee of 200 euros each.
The exhibition takes the documentary The Net by Lutz Dammbeck (2003) as a starting point to consider two competing responses to the cybernetic revolution. On the one hand, there is an emphasis on the utopian promises of global networking and instantaneous communication, and on the other, an emphasis on intrusive systems of technological control. Like the film, the exhibition After The Net aims to explore 'the hidden matrix of revolutionary advances, coincidences, and conspiracies – reflecting the architecture of networks'. It explores some of the historical roots of technological open systems in relation to ethics, and reworks them for the current context of networks. Works presented in the exhibition draw attention to historical shifts of network power demonstrated on one hand by Free and Open Source Software in which users take control from providers and on the other by social networking platforms in which users voluntarily submit to network power.