<nettime> society of the query #2 report

[Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>]

Dear nettimers,

here you can find a nice summary of the Society of the Query #2 conference, which our Institute of Network Cultures organized a few weeks ago, here in Amsterdam:

Videos: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/query/past-events/2-amsterdam/

Blog reports: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/query/

It was a great, focussed event on the politics and aesthetics of search engines. 200 people attended the two days, held on the top floor of the central Amsterdam Public Library (OBA), next to Central Station. There is something odd about the topic. Everyone is using search engines, literary billions of people, every day, but hardly anyone knows anything much about them. It was next to impossible for us to find money for this event. A wonderful coalition of artists, programmers and theorists has so far been rejected for EU money, already twice, "because the topic is not relevant." Despite of all of these contradictions an inspiring band of gypsies continues to do research into this highly abstract, yet common field.

Enjoy! Geert

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