Stack In The Middle With You: Letters Against the Algorithm
| Stack In The Middle With You: Letters Against the Algorithm | |
|---|---|
| Name | Stack In The Middle With You: Letters Against the Algorithm |
| Location | H&D Studio |
| Date | 2026/07/17 |
| Time | 11:00-13:30 |
| PeopleOrganisations | Vittoria Crall |
| Type | HDSC2026 |
| Web | Yes |
| No | |
This event was only for participants of the Summer Camp 2026 and not open to the public. For public events you could check: HDSC2026 Clouds to Commons Public Program
We live in an era of digital hyper-individualism, which is gradually eroding the foundations of community life. In the Western world, the liberal state and capitalism have promised wellness and happiness through services and consumption, resulting in a profound void: an endless quest for self-optimisation at the expense of deep-rooted collective ties.
This workshop addressed the urgent need to counter this trend by exploring alternative ways of forming emotional connections within the hyper-surveilled layers of digital labour, such as delivery algorithms, data centres, micro-tasking platforms and cloud maintenance.
Activity: Working in small groups, participants were given a narrative prompt to immerse them in a scenario of invisible labour within the digital infrastructure. In this scenario, a “human package” -- be it a friendship, a love affair or collective solidarity -- must navigate the cold, unyielding gaze of an algorithmic surveillance apparatus. Each group then devised a brief message of care, tenderness or subversion and a “speculative hack” to safely route that message, exploiting the affordances and limitations of the system (e.g. encryption, symbols, system logs, sensor telemetry, gestures or data flows).
- No prior technical expertise was required; all that was needed was imagination and curiosity.
- Materials and equipment: I provided a template sheet for each group. Pens, pencils or coloured markers were needed to write the message and create any diagrams or drawings. The final outcome was bound, with a tangible copy provided to each participant.
The final results (the letters and their speculative exploit diagrams) were compiled into a collective epistolary zine: a short 21st-century symposium on human sensitivity and intersectional solidarity.
