It's raining... cats and dogs!
Image by huoadg5888 from Pixabay
Online content is saturated with our furry friends, but why does the human species love it so much? Look at the above image and take a deep breath. Researchers at the University of Leeds found that watching images and videos of cute animals can help reduce human stress and anxiety by up to 50%. And with all that fluff, animal influencers start to rise. Jiffpom, a Pomeranian with nearly 10 million Instagram followers, has his own brand deals and even appeared in a 2014 Katy Perry music video. Marutaro the Shibu Inu has over 2.3 million followers and his own online shop, selling all kinds of merch. And the impact of these animal influencers doesn't just stop at memes. Animal influencers like WeRateDogs often raise money to cover surgeries and support animal shelters, while the increase in popularity of the Shiba Inu has been closely tied to like the Dogecoin and SHIB.
Offline, the very physical infrastructure of the internet impacts non-human animals as well. In 2014, Google had to reinforce their undersea fibre optic cables because of shark bites. And according to the BBC, “anemones, sponges, corals, sea stars, urchins, worms, bivalves, crabs and other invertebrates have been found to take up residence on or near undersea cables.” Marine scientists argue that there is still a lot to learn about how fields generated by the cables may disturb the natural navigation of marine critters.
We often think about the internet being for and about human-to-human communication. Researchers like Dr. Ilyena are building prototypes for a dog internet—a space for dogs to connect. These researchers think about connectivity beyond the human and speculate about a world where primates manage their own audio-visual devices, and pets videocall humans instead of the other way around. Should we expand the internet to make space for them? And do we want to create platforms for interspecies connection in the first place? Well as Dr. says, “what is life without dogs sniffing other dogs online?”
Interspecies online collaboration can already be seen in the Netherlands with the visdeurbel (‘fish doorbell’), an underwater camera that sends live footage to a website where viewers can press a virtual doorbell when they spot a fish. Once enough fish have gathered, a water worker opens the lock to let the fish through. In 2024, this wholesome process of aiding fish migration and mating attracted around 2.7 million viewers from around the world. And this year, it went viral again after comedian John Oliver featured it in a segment of his show Last Week Tonight. The number of visdeurbel.nl visitors surged to around 600.000 to 700.000 per day.
On Wednesday 24 September, we'll be addressing all these topics and more at during The Hmm ON the Animal Internet at DOA, the largest animal shelter in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam and our interactive livestream. Come explore what it means to be an animal online with six guest artists, influencers, researchers, and makers, and learn more about internet culture beyond our own species. Limited in-person tickets available!
Keep scrolling for first dibs on our upcoming events. And save the date for Symposihmm #2, The Best Version of Yourself, taking place in Amsterdam and our livestream on Friday 31 October. During The Best Version of Yourself, we will be diving further into the world of looksmaxxing, nu-genics, the of (often appropriated) wellness practices, and much more. Do you have projects, research, or thoughts on these topics? Feel free to share them through the # channel on our Discord for possible features and/or collaborations! And see you soon.
Moo,
౨ৎ The Hmm ౨ৎ
This Thursday — Talking Technofeminism: The Hmm @ Design Museum Den Bosch
If you've ever thought tech can be too gendered, this Thursday at Design Museum Den Bosch, we'll be diving into the implications of AI girlfriends and sex robots, gender bending in vocal technologies, the pressure to be a 'nice girl' online, and much much more.
Join us forTalking Technofeminism, where we’ll be joined by six artists, researchers, and makers who’ll take us through their explorations and interactions with technology, womanhood, and online culture. Expect a stacked lineup with speakers like Lua Vollaard of Superkilogirls, Omarleen, and Sasha Geffen.
For this event we’re teaming up with the Design Museum as a continued journey into our year theme on online gender expression, This Is Who You’re Being Mean To. Through their Women as Technology exhibition, the Design Museum explores the intersections of femininity and technology using pole-dancing robots, quasi-erotic anatomical models, and kitchens designed specifically for women.
Check out the event page for more information on speakers and the programme.
Stuff you should know
Date: Thursday 4 September 2025
Time: 20.00 – 22.00 CEST
Location: Design Museum Den Bosch, De Mortel 4, 5211 HV, ‘
Tickets: on-site €8,- / on-site student discount €5,- / online livestream €5
Photo credits: Joseph Rouhana
Hmmterviewee of the Month: Riad Salameh
This month's Hmmterviewee is Riad Salameh, a Lebanese researcher and art practitioner with a graphic design, art mediation, and media arts cultures background. His work often follows a praxis method that uses as to respond to the urgency of collective socio-economic . Looking into the ownership of bodies in cyberspaces, investigating internet capital and physiological needs of the everyday, he critically investigates economies and its interlinks with biopower. Read below to find out more about Riad's thoughts on the internet.
How many browser tabs do you have open right now?
- I am a Marie Kondo follower, so I only have one tab open. More tabs will not bring me joy.
What's the most ridiculous rabbit hole you've ever fallen down on the internet?
- I am a victim of watching tiktok videos at 3 am of Podiatrists cutting ingrown toenails that are infected. The human body is truly marvelous by its disgust.
What's your favourite place on the internet?
- Real housewives socio political commentary videos are my go to endorphins
What’s the weirdest thing an algorithm has recommended to you?
- It seems like I am "healthy" enough for the algorithm to recommend me to donate my fluids to a sperm bank
Which meme would best summarize your online personality?
- The "they dont know" meme where of a guy is standing in a corner in a party saying "they don't know I squat ass to grass":
Find Riad online at his website and Instagram.
Cache Cleanse by Gjorgji Despodov
Hmmlight: Cache Cleanse by Gjorgji Despodov
Gjorgji Despodov is a artist from North Macedonia, currently based in the Netherlands. He holds a master’s degree in Non Linear Narrative from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In 2023, he received the DENES Award for Young Visual Artist in North Macedonia. Despodov’s practice blends investigative methods with playful elements, rooted in storytelling inspired by internet culture . His work often employs familiar objects that reflect personal experiences while opening portals into speculative, world-building narratives. His work exists at the intersection of physical and digital environments.
Cache Cleanse
Welcome to the Cache Cleanse. Please leave your phones and algorithmic dependencies at the door. In this immersive installation, we enter a near-future scenario where the world is terminally online, and the collective consciousness is suffering from a little-known, condition: Brain Rot.
Caused by chronic of low-effort, low-quality, high-repeat media (meme dumps, TikTok loops, Reddit scrolls, that one girl explaining Plato through a Hailey Bieber lip gloss review), this condition leaves civilization drooling, dopamine-fried, and spiritually unwell. But worry not: in this world, we don’t abolish the Brain Rot—we treat it. Enter Cache Cleanse: part-therapy center, part-delulu chamber, design proposal, but entirely a response to the collapse of attention and meaning. It replaces traditional wellness centers with community whisperers, slime stations, and mood-based rituals.
The Cache Cleanse is not a solution. It’s a provocotype—a prosthetic for the critical mind
Episode #3 of Thinking Face Emoji — Gigachad, or the Surge of Nu-genics
Continuing with episode 3 of our six-episode podcast series, Thinking Face Emoji, an extended exploration of This is who you're being mean to, our 2025 year theme addressing gender expression online.
In episode 3, Gigachad, or the Surge of Nu-genics, Margarita Osipian from The Hmm and researcher Mita Medri are joined by writer and cultural commentator Ana Sumbo, to discuss the online phenomenon of looksmaxxing. Hunter vs prey eyes, the canthal tilt, siren vs. doe eyes, angel vs witch skull, or a FYP filled with Gigachad jawlines. This is the landscape, or some might say cesspool, of looksmaxxing. With its incel-verse undertones and radical history, we discuss whether this phenomenon is just another glow-up trend, or whether it signals a resurgence in eugenics.
We'll be going further into elements from this episode during The Best Version of Yourself 🪞 Symposihmm #2 on 31 October, exploring in its various forms.
Check out the link below or your favorite podcast player for more. And don't forget to like & subscribe!
Image by Susann Mielke from Pixabay
Hmm-ing in the Wild
Come find us at the following events!
◯ 4 Sep, 20.00 – 21.30 CEST, Den Bosch, Design Museum Den Bosch – The Hmm @ Design Museum Den Bosch
◯ 24 Sep, 19.30 – 21.00 CEST, Amsterdam, Dierenopvang Amsterdam – The Hmm ON the Animal Internet
◯ 4 Oct, Amsterdam, NDSM Loods – Ink Your Identity workshop @ NDSM Open
◯ 17 Oct, Leiden, Museum Lakenhal – Ink Your Petsona workshop
◯ 31 Oct, Amsterdam – Symposihmm #2: The Best Version of Yourself (save the date)
◯ 18 - 26 Oct, Eindhoven, MU Hybrid Art House – Launch of publication Ai, Ai Ai: A Hands-On Guide to Playing, Failing & Tinkering with Machines in collaboration with Hogeschool van Amsterdam during Dutch Design Week
Had a taste and want some more? Prompt Battles and The Hmm workshops are available to book here.
Activities in the digital field
◯ 25 Sep, Rotterdam, Nieuwe Instituut – connecting through seams with Hackers & Designers
◯ Open call deadline 15 Sep, Copenhagen, Wrong Biennale – Moons, Castles, Trees
◯ Funding deadline 29 Sep, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts – Regeling Werkruimte Professionele Kunst
◯ Till 26 Oct, Utrecht, IMPAKT – Ambient Propaganda
We hope you enjoyed this editorial newsletter! Welcome back, and see you soon!
