<nettime> Institute of Network Cultures closing at HvA mid 2026: where to take it next?

[Geert Lovink via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Dear Nettimers,

Due to my retirement mid-2026, we at the Institute of Network Cultures decided to close down the operation as part of the Amsterdam polytech HvA (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) and turn it into an NGO/cultural organization. As from next month we’re slowly going to implement some of the necessary steps to secure and recast the infrastructural future as a living independent entity. For me it important to inform you all at nettime about these developments in this early stage.

There will be celebrations, last this and that in 2026… But more exciting is to discuss with you all where to take INC next. Should INC move countries, become an organized network, become part of a larger sister organization, a hybrid publishing house (which it already is, but how to continue that?), event collaborator, a distributed archive? All of these and more? These are a quite few obvious possibilities. But how to set the conditions of possibility in place? This is the question we are now facing. Who do you think we should work with? Do you know interesting partners? We’re winding down the Theory on Demand series now but would someone be interested to take it over?

No doubt, the domain name and indy hosting (https://www.networkcultures.org), which always belonged to us, will be continued. Not yet certain is the future of the mailman service listcultures.org. The rich Vimeo video archive will remain online, for now at least. But we know Vimeo is far from secure or stable with content just vanishing, not even showing up in search engines. The conservation of the website will happen in 2025-26 regardless as the Wordpress site will be 22 years old. It’s content is around 1TB (without video, of course), which is modest but the real issue here are the expired plug-ins, etc. It’s all about the art – and archtitecture – of maintenance. Likely a part of the ‘paper' archive will go to the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, which already hosts several related archives (https://iisg.amsterdam/en). 

At least in the beginning, in the second part of 2026, INC might be an international volutary initiative without paid staff or funding but that may change. Let’s see. This might also depend on what we initiate in 2025… All of us believe that its legacy, direction and diversity of interests in terms of theory, criticism, design, arts and activism are worth to continue. 

One of the first things we’ll have to do is to no longer accept new proposals for the Theory on Demand series as they are labor-intensiver to produce. Longforms and Network Notions might continue till mid 2026. We have a list of ToD titles we’re working on with authors and collectives, and they will be released in 2025-26. There will be a last INC reader on tactical media (maybe you have seen the call, which is still open, we will work with the authors from January onwards). I myself will wrap up my own 'book 8’ in the Critical Internet Cultures Chronicle series (Stuck on the Platform was the last one, from 2022). This one will also come out with Valiz Publishers in Amsterdam. And there might be a closing event in early-mid 2026, in Amsterdam.

Again, we’re very open to have conversations about what’s to be done, both here on nettime, erlsewhere and in person. One of the direction we’re excited about is the recently founded Stream Art Network together with UKRAiNATV in Krakow and other nodes in Budapest, Vilnius, Warwick.

Best, Geert & INC team


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