CRC 1187 annual conference
How do digital technologies transform society and (international) politics, and what are the practices and options for resistance?
Annual Conference of the Collaborative Research Centre „Media of Cooperation“ examines digital power and new forms of democratic action
AI, wars, and the shift to the extreme right are raising pressing questions today. All of these issues are linked to digital media technologies. The annual conference asks about the relationship between social media, robotics, and artificial intelligence with (geo)political developments and resistance practices.
→ interview with speaker Carolin Gerlitz
About the Annual Conference
The Collaborative Research Centre “Media of Cooperation” investigates the role of media and digital technologies in social cooperation. This year’s annual conference of the centre is titled “Politics of Cooperative Sensing: Techfascism, War, Geopolitics, and Resistance” and brings together scholars, filmmakers, journalists, and activists to focus on the political conditions of digital cooperation.
Social networks and artificial intelligence (AI) shape how political events are reported and public debates are conducted. Digital platforms are used to spread disinformation and exert political influence. Their technical structures are particularly conducive to (algorithmic) discrimination as well as extremist-right-wing, racist, or anti-feminist disinformation campaigns. The conference examines these developments as well as the possibilities for countering them through protest and political engagement.
Digital media have long been more than just tools of communication. They influence what information becomes visible and who can shape public debates. At the same time, they rely on technical infrastructures that consume limited resources and raise questions about climate impacts and surveillance. The speakers therefore explore not only new forms of digital power but also how people can use or engage with technology critically.
In seven presentations, three workshops, two film screenings, and a lecture performance, contributors from Siegen, Cologne, Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Weimar, Hamburg, Mariupol, Kyiv, Tehran, Dublin, and Berlin will discuss various aspects of these topics. The international conference brings together perspectives from media studies, theater studies, cultural studies, education, and sociology with insights from documentary film and investigative journalism. The political and social consequences of digital technologies are thus discussed from a variety of academic disciplines.
Highlights of the program include the lecture performance “Fault Line: Survival as Unrest” by Azadeh Ganjeh, as well as two panel discussions on current political and social issues, such as the interplay between technology corporations and fascist movements, and the question of how geopolitical conflicts and wars are portrayed and negotiated through various media technologies. The first panel, “Technocooperations,” examines how digital platforms, infrastructures, and AI are transforming working conditions, political debates, and social relationships. The second panel, “Sensory Conflicts and Mediated Wars,” focuses on topics such as surveillance, visibility practices, and digital infrastructures in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Two film screenings complement the program by offering personal and documentary perspectives on war, violence, and resistance. “War Songs” is a documentary musical directed by Sashko Protyah that uses songs and melodies to tell the story of war and pacifism in Mariupol. “Teen Angst”, directed by Inga Pylypchuk, follows nine young Ukrainian women who use their smartphones to document their daily lives during Russia’s war of aggression. Through personal stories of fear, separation, hope, and resilience, the film offers insights into coming of age under wartime conditions.
Another special event will be the farewell lecture by Prof. Dr. Erhard Schüttpelz, which will include a laudatory address by Prof. Dr. Rembert Hüser.
Attendance at the conference is free of charge. Please register at: https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/annual-conference-2026/#Registration
Date: November 11–13, 2026
Location: University of Siegen
Organizer: Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation”
Program: https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/annual-conference-2026/