Platform Blues - The Sad States of Social Media

One-Day Conference at the University of Canberra 

Curated by Geert Lovink (Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam) and Denise Thwaites (Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra)

With lectures, presentations, performances and conversations led by Ella Barclay, Nicole Curato, Sophie Dumaresq, Caroline Fisher, Catherine Page Jeffery, Geert Lovink, David Nolan, Mathieu O'Neil, Phoebe Quinn, Melinda Rackham, Litia Roko, Erin Stapleton, Tyne Sumner, Denise Thwaites, Temple Uwalaka and Ashley Van den Heuvel.

Full program is available here: 

https://networkcultures.org/ev...

Join us for an event that maps the depression, boredom and loneliness that feed (and are fed by) social media platforms. Beyond fake news, our platform dependencies, miseries, and anxieties are all too real. Many feel sadness about our collective inability to change - yet cannot imagine deleting social media accounts for fear of isolation. Platform Blues are an area of interest for multiple and varied forms of research, which intersect with our topic through critical enquiry into techno-feudalism, memes, online dating, doom scrolling, right-wing libertarian/conspiracy cultures and internet 'girl' theory. Alternative ways of community organizing provide glimpses of hope, as seen in protest and solidarity movements, such as those addressing climate action, #metoo, and the ongoing war in Gaza. Platform Blues in Australia exist, but neither strict regulation nor the melancholic dream of going offline will solve it. How can our phones become a tool of connection again? Resisting the distractions of AI eye candy, let's address the reality of our tech-induced mental poverty.This gathering of bodies and souls will coincide with the one-month residency of Dutch media theorist and internet critic, Geert Lovink, at the University of Canberra.

Presented by the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, The Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance and the News and Media Research Centre (all University of Canberra) and the Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam). Supported by the University of Canberra as part of its Distinguished Visiting Fellow Program.

A free event. Registration is required. The event will not be livestreamed, but recordings will be available after the event.