Free radicals are part of the body's intricate system for keeping itself healthy. They are unstable software experiments that can damage current technologies. When free radicals collide with established technological ideologies to 'steal' an electron, the devices that lose electrons may begin to function differently.
In 2023 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Art University Linz, the yearly BestOFF exhibition was entitled to the Radical Collective and invited Linz-based art and cultural spaces to contribute to the exhibition programme and present their activities.
Servus.at was invited to participate in the show, for which we took the opportunity to present, in the form of an installation, the focus and development of research in the various AMRO Research Labs organised between 2015 and 2023. The projects presented in the installation "What free radicals do and whether they can be stopped (A Portal for Radical Openness)" aim to undermine technological trends and phenomena of digital and networked cultures: from the blind spots of AI, to the environmental, social and political impact of cloud systems, to alternatives for networked spaces of encounter. The philosophies of Creative Commons and Free Internet form the basis for cultural and social change.
Featured works and exhibited materials:
Presented AMRO Research Labs:
2015 Behind the Smart World // with kairus.org – Andreas Zingerle and Linda Kronman
2017 HIC SVNT DRACONES // with Davide Bevilacqua, Veronika Krenn, Hanna Priemetzhofer, Franziska Thurner & Us(c)hi Reiter
2017 Social Bots – automatisierte Meinungsmache des 21. Jahrhunderts // with Valie Djordjevic & Us(c)hi Reiter
2019 Thirsty Data-center: on the rhetorics of digital waters // with Antonio Zingaro, Christina Gruber, Davide Bevilacqua
2021 Conversations with Computers // with Matthias Pitscher & the Silicon Friends
2021 Toxic Stories // with Andreas Zingerle and Raphael Perret
2021 Center for Networked Intimacy // with Dasha Ilina
2023 f00f.fail // with vo ezn
2023 You’re all caught up: camouflage and exposure in the age of platform capitalism // with S()fia Braga
servus.at Publications
https://publications.servus.at/2020-Out_of_E-Business/
https://publications.servus.at/2019-The_Internet_of_Other_Peoples_Things/
https://publications.servus.at/2016-Behind_the_Smart_World/
Since 2015, the Research Labs have been the backbone of servus.at's cultural activities and an important phase in the development of themes and projects with artists, activists, scientists and hackers from the association's community. The research is characterised by a strong interdisciplinarity and combines critical theoretical reflection with the practical approach of the hacktivist community.
