TRISTES POR DISEÑO – Las redes sociales como ideología

By Geert Lovink, September 18, 2019

I am proud to announce the release of the Spanish translation of my latest book Sad by Design (Pluto Press, 2019), published in Bilbao by Consonni. The book was translated by Matheus Calderón Torres in Lima/Peru who earlier approached, out of the blue, with the offer to translate of one of my interviews. A perfect [...]

German Sad by Design Edition: Digitaler Nihilismus

By Geert Lovink, September 11, 2019

The German translation of Sad by Design (Pluto Press) just came out: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-4975-8/digitaler-nihilismus/ Geert Lovink, Digitaler Nihilismus, Thesen zur dunklen Seite der Plattformen, Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, 2019. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder und Co. – all das Klicken, Scrollen, Wischen und Liken lässt uns am Ende sinnentleert zurück. Traurigkeit ist zum Designproblem geworden, die Höhen und [...]

On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui by Geert Lovink

By Geert Lovink, September 5, 2019

(Today, e-flux journal published my third interview with Berlin-based Hong Kong philosopher Yuk Hui. Here it is. For the purists among you I am making the original email interview available. E-flux did a great job editing the piece. Whatever. Here is the original. Read and enjoy, it’s heavy stuff. /Geert) In his latest book, the [...]

Post-Platform Desires: Build 1, 2, 3 New Beginnings

By Geert Lovink, September 1, 2019

The text below is written as an introduction to a week-long discussion on the empyre email list in which I participate, with the topic STAY UNFINISHED, YOURS SINCERELY, moderated by Shulea Cheang. The debate happens in conjunction with STAY UNFINISHED, the 5th edition of Stadtwerkstatt‘s 48 hour showcase extravanganza held in association with Ars Electronica [...]

Russian anthology of my critical internet theory essays

By Geert Lovink, July 28, 2019

In June 2019 Admarginem Press in Moscow published the first translation into Russian of my work, edited and translated by Dmitry Lebedev: Critical Internet Theory. Thanks to the publishing house and Dmitry and many others for the amazing book tour in June (Moscow, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg)! This is the table of content 1. What’s [...]

The Hour of Cyber-Restyling-Interview with Geert Lovink for Avvenire

By Geert Lovink, June 19, 2019

Interview with Geert Lovink by Simone Paliaga for the Italian newspaper Avvenire https://www.avvenire.it/agora/pagine/manipolati-e-sfruttati-lora-del-cyberrisveglio Simone Paliaga: The English title of your book is “Sad by Design”. Why do you talk about programmed sadness and melancholy? Can you explain the reason of the word “design”? Geert Lovink: In these harsh neo-liberal times of precarity and growing inequality, [...]

Menno Grootveld & Geert Lovink: Links na de Europese verkiezingen

By Geert Lovink, June 18, 2019

Na de Europese verkiezingen lijkt links definitief de weg kwijt. Eind mei 2019 werden in heel Europa verkiezingen voor het Europees Parlement gehouden, en in Spanje gemeenteraadsverkiezingen. De gevreesde ‘bruine golf’ van rechts-populisten in Europa onder leiding van de Italiaanse minister van Binnenlandse Zaken en vice-premier Matteo Salvini bleef uit, hoewel de rechts-populisten wel winst [...]

Just out: the English edition of the Sad by Design book

By Geert Lovink, May 15, 2019

Geert Lovink, Sad by Design, On Platform Nihilism, Pluto Press, 2019. “A scathing indictment of a technology that transforms the very notion of self into a sharing platform” Eva Illouz, author of Why Love Hurts: A Sociological Explanation “Lovink dissects our digital addictions with the dynamite power of critical theory. A savage journey into the [...]

Interview with Max Haiven: Art after Money, Money after Art

By Geert Lovink, May 11, 2019

By Geert Lovink Conducted for the 2019 Venice Bienale catalogue of the Romanian pavillion, in particular Canal Grande: The Capital Pool and the Associated Public of Dan Mihaltianu, curated by Cristian Nae. The work “functions at first sight as a wishing well. It establishes an autonomous art fund and invites the visitors to self-organize and [...]

Vulnerability of the Networked Generation: Interview with Geert Lovink by Lovro Japundžić

By Geert Lovink, April 15, 2019

https://www.kulturpunkt.hr/content/vulnerability-networked-generation For Kulturpunkt.hr, recorded in Zagreb on March 29, 2019 According to the classical definition, melancholy is similar to sadness, at least in its manifestation of loss of interest for the external world. But, while in the traditional sense we associate it with retreatment and introspection, in the contemporary world sadness has become an integral [...]