davide bevilacqua via nettime-l on Tue, 2 Sep 2025 09:55:15 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> 6th Sept / 17:30 @STWST Linz // Armin Medosch: The Rise of the Network Commons: A History of Community Infrastructure 

Hi Adam, Geert and all the list –
Here an invitation for the the book launch in Linz this saturday 6th September 2025, at 17:30 CEST.
The conversation takes place within the program of the STWST84x11, a festival organized by Stadtwerkstatt running in parallel to the Ars Electronica in Linz. 
https://stwst84x11.stwst.at/the_rise_of_the_network_commons_by_armin_medosch
As the book began being presented a few months already, we would like to use it to have a conversation that follows the structure of the book. From the concept and the operational setups to wider socio-techno-political aspects, critique, and utopia vs reality entanglements. We'll discuss how the idea of network commons can be helpful to survey current practices of self-hosted infrastructure and the tension with corporate tech.
As initiative that were long time in contact with Armin and where his thought and work strongly resonates, Stadtwerkstatt and servus.at will host the presentation. These are also some places where newer generations of media artists are getting active and that might encounter Armin's work for the first time. We will therefore try to go back again the question of future legacy that was asked by Shu Lea Cheang in the 2017 tribute – https://cba.media/349549 – when was perhaps still early to see a trajectory. 

Would be lovely to see and hear your thoughts
Best wishes
servus.at & stadtwerkstatt Linz

~~~

Full program https://stwst84x11.stwst.at/
stwst84x11 – fog manifesto
flooding the zone with fog
1.-7. Sept 2025 | Stadtwerkstatt Linz


~~~~~
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On 28.05.25 23:05, Adam Burns via nettime-l wrote:

Dear Geert,

Thank you so much for your role in making this publication a reality.
The concept of a 'Network Commons' in this sense evolved some good years ago from conversations between Julian Priest, Armin Medosch and myself, influenced by exposure to Elinor Ostram's work on developing the concept of the commons, countering the narrative of the 'tragedy'.
As mentioned in your post, so many people have played their part in forming the narrative of this history of community infrastructure.
Book launch events have been organized in Berlin, London, and Linz (with additional potential launches in Vienna and Athens in progress).
The up-to-date details of these book launch events can be found at https://www.networkcommons.org as they come to hand. 

On 28/05/2025 13:08, Geert Lovink via nettime-l wrote:
(dear all, i am proud to present this INC theory on demand #58 publication by the late Armin Medosch, who has always been active on nettime till he passed away in 2017, now accessible as pdf, epub on print on demand. thanks to volker and adam for this amazing, stressfree production. /geert)
https://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/tod-58-the-rise-of-the-network-commons-a-history-of-community-infrastructure/ 

The Rise of the Network Commons: A History of Community Infrastructure
By Armin Medosch
This book is a message in a bottle that washed ashore ten years after it was sent. Armin Medosch began documenting self-managed local networking initiatives with his book Freie Netze published in the German language in 2004. He iteratively developed The Rise of the Network Commons in draft chapters published on his website, The Next Layer, from 2013 until 2015, before his death in 2017.
The Rise of the Network Commons is a cultural history of ‘the exciting world of wireless community network projects’ that spread from its origins in London, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen to Spain, Greece, North- and South America, and Africa. While deploying cutting-edge technology, the movement is made up of technical, social, and artistic hackers with a range of backgrounds and skills.
This is the twofold thesis that Armin develops in this book: Involving ordinary people in building a network commons has a profound emancipatory effects on them. At the same time, doing so contributes to the democratization of technology: As a community we can begin to shape future technologies to serve our local needs rather than benefit commercial interests.
As a history of community infrastructure, The Rise of the Network Commons is a highly topical narrative for strengthening the resilience of our local last mile digital infrastructures and re-enforcing regional digital self-sovereignty through direct community participation and knowledge sharing. We build the wireless commons by becoming sovereign neighbors of practice and expertise.
Armin Medosch (1962 – 2017) was an Austrian media artist, journalist, curator, theorist, critic, and a pioneer of internet culture in Europe. As art activist, he co-initiated the transformation of the ship MS Stubnitz, a former GDR deep-sea fishing vessel, into a floating art space. He is well recognized as a journalist and as the co-editor of Telepolis. As an academic he earned a Master of Arts in Interactive Digital Media at the University of Sussex and a PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London and continued to his last days to publish, teach and research. 

Author: Armin Medosch
Edited by: Volker Ralf Grassmuck and Adam Burns
With special thanks to: Ina Zwerger, Elektra Aichele, Panayotis Antoniadis, Gregers Baur-Petersen, Andreas Bräu, Sebastian Büttrich, Teresa Dillon, André Gaul, Aaron Kaplan, Geert Lovink, Monic Meisel, Mauricio Román Miranda, Jürgen Neumann, Ignacio Nieto Larrain, Julian Priest, Enrique Rivera, Tim Schütz, Felix Stalder, Thomas Thaler, Ulf Treger, Sven (C-ven) Wagner, Simon Worthington, Manuel Orellana Sandoval and everyone at Señal 3, TV Piola. 

Cover design: Katja van Stiphout
Book production and design: Ruben Stoffelen
Published by the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam 2025.
ISBN: 978-90-83520-92-6










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