#DNL35 · June 13–15 2025
SHADOWS OF ILLIBERALISM
Resisting the Radical Right
THE 35th CONFERENCE OF THE DISRUPTION NETWORK LAB
studio 1, KUNSTQUARTIER BETHANIEN, marianneplatz 2, 10997 Berlin & STREAMING
Workshop at Stadtwerkstatt, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11, 10178 Berlin
Curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli (Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE)
Streamed for free. No registration required to follow the stream.
Workshop IS not streamed
Franco “Bifo” Berardi · Katrien Jacobs · Florian Cramer/無名 · Anna Krenz · Tonia Mastrobuoni · Péter Adamik · Slavo Krekovič · Donatella Della Ratta · Amber Macintyre · Tina Lee · Yasmeen Daher · Maya Talakhadze · Tatiana Bazzichelli
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Schedule
Friday, June 13, 2025 · Get tickets
16:00 CET · Doors open
16:30–16:40 · OPENING
Tatiana Bazzichelli (Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE).
16:40 – 18:10 · KEYNOTE
Franco Berardi (Philosopher, Media Theorist, IT). Moderated by Yasmeen Daher (Philosopher, Co-director of Febrayer, PS/DE).
18:10 – 18:40 · BREAK
18:40 – 20:40 · PANEL
Péter Adamik (Freie Ungarische Botschaft, HU/DE), Anna Krenz (Founder, Polish Queer Feminist Collective Dziewuchy Berlin, PL/DE), Slavo Krekovič (Cultural Manager, Music Curator and Cultural Organizer, Cultural Center A4, SK). Moderated by Tonia Mastrobuoni (Journalist, Correspondent La Repubblica, IT/DE).
Saturday, June 14, 2025 · Get tickets
16:00 · Doors open
16:30 – 18:10 · KEYNOTE
Katrien Jacobs (Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia, BE/MY), Florian Cramer (Practice-oriented Research Professor in Artistic Research and Emerging Forms of Cultural Production at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, NL). Moderated by Tatiana Bazzichelli (Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE).
18:10 – 18:30 · BREAK
18:30 – 19:00 · LECTURE PERFORMANCE
Donatella Della Ratta (Media Ethnographer, Performer and Curator, John Cabot University, IT).
19:00 – 20:30 · PANEL
Donatella Della Ratta (Media Ethnographer, Performer and Curator, John Cabot University, IT), Míriam Juan-Torres (Head of Research, Democracy & Belonging Forum at UC Berkeley · Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, ES), Amber Macintyre (Project Lead, Influence Industry Project, Tactical Tech, UK/DE). Moderated by Tina Lee (Writer, Editor and Researcher, Hostwriter, US/DE).
Sunday, June 15, 2025 · Get tickets
13:00–16:00 · WORKSHOP: Defending Civic Space: Countering Disinformation in Challenging Environments
At Stadtwerkstatt
With Maya Talakhadze (Director, Regional Development Hub – Caucasus, GE)
Podcast: Illiberal Realities: Understanding Propaganda & the Orbanisation of Europe
From our Meetup April 3 at nGbK: Péter Adamik and Sára Szedlár from the Berlin-based Hungarian activist organisation Freie Ungarische Botschaft (Free Hungarian Embassy) gave an overview of how Viktor Orbán's government has built its machinery of power. Listen.
More about the event
Funded by: Hauptstadtkulturfonds (The Capital Cultural Fund), The Reva and David Logan Foundation. Part of New Perspectives for Action. A project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union.
Partner Venues: Kunstraum Kreuzberg /Bethanien, nGbK, Stadtwerkstatt.
COLLABORATION PARTNER:
r0g _agency.
Streaming partner: Boiling Head Media.
Technology Partner: Geier-Tronic.
Media Partners: Taz
Outreach Partners: Hostwriter, Unbias the News
SHADOWS OF ILLIBERALISM
Resisting the Radical Right
Conflicts are escalating both locally in Berlin and across Europe, with the rise of right-wing extremism and far-right ideologies. On a global scale, since Trump's second term, ultra-conservative social visions are being implemented, immigration policies are being enforced, and national sovereignty and borders are being defended. This context requires a scientific analysis that goes beyond polarisation and the instrumentalisation of conflicts for political purposes, often targeting the most vulnerable sectors of society. In analysing such a complex issue, we propose to use artistic strategies as visual evidence to inform about the reality in which we live and to promote a constructive dialogue between different actors in our field of art and culture.
With the term "shadows of illiberalism" we refer to the concept of “illiberal democracy”, which describes a governing system that hides its nondemocratic practices behind formally democratic institutions and procedures. Amnesty International notes that in July 2014, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave what has come to be known as his "illiberal democracy" speech in Romania, in which he juxtaposes a democratic “Western" system based on liberal values and accountability to what he calls an "Eastern" approach based on a strong state and weak opposition.
To date, Orbán's new right-wing sovereigntist alliance, Patriots for Europe, has gained enough support to become a political group in the EU Parliament, bringing together MEPs from 12 EU member states, including members from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, as well as Hungary. In addition, other members who have expressed interest in joining are from Poland and Slovakia, and other parties that are speculated to join include MEPS from Slovenia and Aternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany.
In Germany, nationalism and far-right ideology have been on the rise for more than a decade, and the AfD as the second most popular party since 2023. Similarly, a conservative movement against "wokeness" is taking over in the US, a country where Donald Trump is the new president since January 20, 2025, criticising race theory, gender rights and queer theory, often provoking irrational chains of reactions supported by conspiracy theories and harassment campaigns based on isolationism, anti-feminism, homophobia, white supremacy as well as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
On the other hand, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a threat to neighbouring countries such as Georgia, where a controversial 'foreign agent' law was passed, threatening the existence of many local NGOs working on democracy and civil rights, and the escalation of violence against LGBTQ+ communities made headlines during the attack on Tbilisi Pride 2023, a violent counter-demonstration organised by far-right, nationalist and ultra-nationalist groups.
In such a scenario, which is clearly based on the weaponisation of culture, the role of art and visual culture becomes necessary to produce evidence of these phenomena. This conference builds on our previous 2018 series entitled 'Misinformation Ecosystems', which analysed cultural, political and technological issues related to fake news and right-wing supremacist ideologies through our conferences HATE NEWS and INFILTRATION.
We aim to update a previous debate on the strategic production of misinformation and misleading propaganda by bringing together speakers who share methods (from these or similar cases) that can be used to produce evidence of online hate, systematic discrimination, targeting of women, minorities, and people at risk. The focus will be on the strategic use of online tools by political right-wing groups, the weaponisation of LGBTQ+ culture by far-right groups online and offline, the rise of anti-democratic and authoritarian ideologies in Europe and the complicit role of Big Tech, where algorithms and social media platforms are misused by the far-right to polarise users and increase online traffic.
In this conference programme, we want to raise awareness by reflecting on possible counter-measures from artistic, technological and political frameworks.
SHADOWS OF ILLIBERALISM will showcase technological/media, artistic and activist practices to produce strategies to counteract human rights violations and environmental violence by state or corporate actors. The conference is preceded by a meetup at nGbK where to analyse a specific local case study where to understand how weaponised discrimination works.
Workshop · Defending Civic Space: Countering Disinformation in Challenging Environments
Sunday 15 June, 13:00–16:00, Stadtwerkstatt (Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 11, 10178 Berlin)
Register here
With Maya Talakhadze (Director, Regional Development Hub – Caucasus, GE)
Max 30 participants. No prior technical knowledge or special equipment are required.
Around the world, civic space is becoming increasingly restricted. In many countries, governments are using legal, administrative and narrative tools to limit activism, weaken independent media and discredit opposition voices. This workshop will examine how disinformation - including conspiracy theories and misleading narratives - is used to justify these actions. It will also explore the wider impact of such tactics on protest movements, media freedom and the safety of human rights defenders.
Led by Maya Talakhadze, Director of the Regional Development Hub - Caucasus (Tbilisi, Georgia) the session will draw on case studies from Georgia, Hungary, Russia and Turkey to examine both strategies of repression and forms of resistance. These examples will help participants to recognise how disinformation is weaponised to shape public perceptions and undermine democratic space.
The workshop will begin with a short presentation on the global trend of shrinking civic space and its impact on activism, providing a common ground for deeper engagement. Participants will then work in small groups to compare real cases, analyse government rhetoric, and reflect on resistance strategies that have been effective in different contexts. Interactive exercises throughout the session will encourage critical thinking, creativity and collaborative learning. The workshop will conclude with a strategic discussion on countering disinformation, amplifying independent voices, and sustaining civic engagement in increasingly challenging environments.
This workshop is designed for around 25 international participants with an interest in media freedom, human rights and governance. No prior technical skills or special equipment are required.
Watch talks from related conferences
Playlists: Go to our YouTube playlists for Infiltration, Hate News & more (see all playlists)
Some suggestions:
Infiltration: Mapping the International Far Right · Julia Ebner & Patrik Hermansson
Facing Ideologies & Strategies of Hate · Caroline Sinders, Øyvind Strømmen, Cathleen Berger, Margarita Tsomou
Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory · Alistair Alexander
Uncovering Corruption: On Strategic Harassment, Mexican Trolls and Election Manipulation · Andrea Noel, Renata Avila
Across & Within Right-Wing Extremism: Investigations and Interference · Mattias Gardell, Richard Gebhardt, Janez Janša, Christina Lee
Transgressions Then & Now: How does the Alt Right Reenact Counter Culture? · Florian Cramer, Stewart Home, Tatiana Bazzichelli
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Speakers
Franco Berardi
Philosopher, Media Theorist, IT
Franco “Bifo” Berardi is a philosopher and media theorist, and was a key figure in the Italian Autonomia movement of the 1970s. He is cofounder of the magazine A/traverso (1975–1981) and of Radio Alice, the first free radio station in Italy (1976/1978). In 1994 he organised the international Congress “Cibernauti” (University of Bologna). He published around twenty books, translated in many languages, including English, Italian, German, Turkish, Spanish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish, Chinese and Russian, such as And: Phenomenology of the End (Semiotexte, Los Angeles, 2014), Heroes, Mass murder and suicide (Verso, London, 2015), Futurability: The age of impotence and the horizon of possibility (Verso, London, 2017), The third Unconscious (Verso, London, 2022), and Chaos and the Automaton (Minnesota, 2025).
Katrien Jacobs
Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia, BE/MY
Katrien Jacobs is Associate Professor in Digital Media and Communications at Monash University Malaysia. She is also a Research Associate at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Ghent. Jacobs has lectured and published widely about sexuality and gender in and around digital media, contemporary arts and activism in Chinese societies and the EU. In 2022 she published Tit-For-Tat Media: The Contentious Bodies and Sex Imagery of Political Activism (London and New York: Routledge, 2022). She is an artist-scholar who is currently preparing a new book and artwork about restorative Deepfakes and AI Bodies. Her work can be found at katrienjacobs.com.
Florian Cramer [Taiwanese name 官無名]
Practice-oriented Research Professor in Artistic Research and Emerging Forms of Cultural Production at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, NL
Florian Cramer is a practice-oriented research professor in Artistic Research and Emerging Forms of Cultural Production at Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. He is a supervisor in the Dutch Professional Doctorate Arts + Creative pilot program as well as a co-supervisor of PhD candidates at Leiden University and University of Amsterdam. Outside his school, he is an associate member of the Pearl River Delta-based 展銷場 Display Distribute collective, which proposes the concept of “Semi-Autonomous Zines” as a way of scoping the development of zine and independent publishing cultures in East and South East Asia. He serves as a board member of Stichting Lezeren, an artist-run non-profit organization for free Dutch language and literacy courses. He is on the advisory board for the arts magazine Neural and the peer-reviewed journal APRJA (Aarhus University), and on the advisory board of PASS, the Center for Practice-Based Art Studies of University of Copenhagen.
Péter Adamik
Freie Ungarische Botschaft, HU/DE
Born and raised in Budapest, Péter Adamik moved to Berlin in 2019, where he immediately joined the Freie Ungarische Botschaft. He studied Scandinavian literature and culture and holds a master's degree from the University of Freiburg. He currently works as a project manager at the Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (known in German as "EVZ"), focusing on events, networks and political communication at the foundation, which supports civil society organizations in Eastern Europe with a special focus on remembrance of German National Socialist persecution and its consequences for today's political-educational context, as well as work for human rights and international exchange.
Anna Krenz
Founder, Polish Queer Feminist Collective Dziewuchy Berlin, PL/DE
Anna Krenz (born 1976, Poznań, Poland, based in Berlin since 2003) is a freelance artist, architect, graphic designer, author, researcher, and activist. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Poznan University of Technology and completed her Master's degree in Energy, Environment and Sustainable Design at the Architectural Association in London. Anna Krenz exhibits her works in solo and group exhibitions in Germany, Poland and worldwide. Krenz is the founder of the group Dziewuchy Berlin, an informal group of Polish activists that has been organising demonstrations and actions (Black Protest, "Global Scream", etc.) in solidarity with women* from Poland, Germany and worldwide (www.dziewuchyberlin.org). From 2003 to 2012 she had been co-director of the ZERO Gallery in Berlin (www.zero-project.org), which hosted over 100 exhibitions, concerts, and happenings with artists from Poland, Germany and around the world. She is the founder and chairwoman of the association Ambasada Polek e.V., initiator and member of the International Council of Polish Women.
Slavo Krekovič
Cultural Manager, Music Curator and Cultural Organizer, Cultural Center A4, SK
Slavo Krekovič is a musician and sound artist, musicologist, contemporary music and new media art curator and cultural organizer, based in Bratislava. He is co-founder and Artistic Director of NEXT Festival of Advanced Music and independent cultural centre A4 – Space of Contemporary Culture in Bratislava. From 2013 to 2017, he was the Head of the Multimedia study programme at the Faculty of Fine Arts (FaVU) of Brno University of Technology. He is editor-in-Chief and publisher of the ¾ cultural magazine, one of the founders of Mag.Net – Electronic Cultural Publishers network. He performs music with electronic and interactive instruments solo or as a member of various experimental projects (Voice Over Noise, Shibuya Motors, VRITTI, Bratislava Improvisers Orchestra, SWAG Ensemble). He holds a Mgr. (MA) and PhD degrees in Musicology and a Master degree in Sonology (Instruments and Interfaces Programme) from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and STEIM.
Donatella Della Ratta
Media Ethnographer, Performer and Curator, John Cabot University, IT
Donatella Della Ratta is a scholar, performer, and curator specializing in networked technologies and generative AI. Currently Associate Professor of Communication at John Cabot University, she is a former Affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. A former journalist and TV author for Italian public broadcaster Rai Television, from 2007 to 2013 she served as the Arab world community manager for the Creative Commons. She has curated several international art programs, including Syria Off Frame in collaboration with the Luciano Benetton Foundation, Venice, 2015. She is co-founder and board member of SyriaUntold, and a member of the advisory board of the Cinema Futures initiative at Locarno International Film Festival. In 2025, GEN_, the documentary she has co-authored with Gianluca Matarrese, was selected in the international world doc competition at Sundance Film Festival. Donatella's research on Generative AI and speculative violence earned her the Italian Council award 2024-25 from Italy's Ministry of Culture.
Amber Macintyre
Research Lead, Tactical Tech/Freelance - Scotland, UK
Amber Macintyre is an investigator and trainer examining technology, activism and politics. She is the project lead of Tactical Tech's Influence Industry Project, producing research and delivering capacity building to hold private firms and political parties to account. Amber’s PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London examined the use of personal data in civil society campaigns, comparing and contrasting practices of campaign analytics against surveillance. The research was drawn from her experience working with civil society campaigns, including her role as Digital Activism Officer at Amnesty International. She holds a Masters in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes from University of Peace, Costa Rica.
Yasmeen Daher
Philosopher, Co-director of Febrayer, PS/DE
Yasmeen Daher is a feminist activist and a writer. She holds a Doctorate degree from the department of philosophy, University of Montreal with focus on ethics and political philosophy, she had taught previously in different institutions including Bir-Zeit University in Palestine and Simone de Beavour Institute in Canada. She is the co-director and editorial director of Febrayer - A Network for independent Arab Media Organizations, based in Berlin. Yasmeen’s research sits at the intersection of political theory, ethics, and direct political action, all of which are deeply rooted in a commitment to feminist, social, and anti-colonial movements. Her work seeks to understand how authoritarianism reshapes agency—and how alternative ethical and political imaginaries might challenge it.
Tonia Mastrobuoni
Journalist, Correspondent La Repubblica, IT/DE
Tonia Mastrobuoni is a German-Italian journalist, born in Brussels, grew up in Rome, and graduated in literature. Currently, she is the Correspondent in Germany and European Central Bank-watcher for La Repubblica, formerly La Stampa. From 2001 to 2011, she was the Economic and Financial Reporter for Reuters, Apcom, Il Riformista, Radio Radicale. Since 2009, she is responsible for the book lectures for the "Festival of economics in Trento". In 2017, she won the most important Italian journalistic prize, Il Premiolino. For Mondadori, she has published the books The Unexpected: Angela Merkel, a Political Biography (2021) and The Erosion: How sovereignties are sweeping away democracy in Europe (2023).
Tina Lee
Writer, Editor and Researcher, Hostwriter, US/DE
Christina Lee is a writer, editor and researcher. She is the editor-in-chief of feminist cross-border newsroom Unbias the News and head of publications at Hostwriter.org, an award-winning international network that helps journalists easily collaborate across borders. In 2019, she was editor-in-chief of the book Unbias the News: Why Diversity Matters for Journalism, a collaboration between Hostwriter and 40 international journalists, published by Hostwriter and Correctiv. She holds a JD in US American law and an LLM in international law and has worked at NGOs throughout the US and Europe focusing on issues of migration and minority rights. In 2016, she co-founded the website Migration Voter with Miriam Aced to examine the role of migration in elections and offer an alternative source for people frustrated by vague and confusing coverage of migration and elections. She speaks at events in Europe and internationally on the topics of cross-border journalism, misinformation, feminism and migration.
Tatiana Bazzichelli
Director, Disruption Network Institute, Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE
Tatiana Bazzichelli is founder and director at Disruption Network Lab. Her focus of work is whistleblowing, network culture, art, and hacktivism. She is author of the books Whistleblowing for Change (2021), Networked Disruption (2013), Disrupting Business (2013), and Networking (2006). In 2011-2014 she was programme curator at transmediale festival in Berlin. She received a PhD degree in Information and Media Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Aarhus University in Denmark in 2011. Her PhD research, Networked Disruption: Rethinking Oppositions in Art, Hacktivism and the Business of Social Networking, was the result of her 2009 visiting scholarship at the H-STAR Institute of Stanford University. In 2019-2021 she was appointed jury member for the Capital Cultural Fund by the German Federal Government and the city of Berlin, and in 2020-2023 jury member for the Kulturlichter prize, a new award for digital cultural education in Germany.
Maya Talakhadze
Director, Regional Development Hub – Caucasus, GE
Maya Talakhadze is the Director of the RDH – Caucasus. With a solid legal background, she brings a wealth of experience spanning public institutions, private sector entities, and civil society organizations in Georgia and beyond. Her career reflects a multidisciplinary approach, with active contributions to areas such as governance, human rights, access to information, and policy reform. Maya has played a key role in strengthening Georgia’s media ecosystem, working collaboratively with national and international stakeholders to promote its independence, transparency, and resilience. She also served as a researcher at the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), where she focused on issues related to access to information, open governance, and civic participation. Currently, Maya is pursuing her PhD at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. She remains committed to advancing democratic values, informed civic discourse, and empowering civil society actors.
