Chat, is this real .ᐣ.ᐣ.ᐣ
If you've spent any time watching Twitch streams, you've seen it happen. The streamer pauses mid-game, looks directly at the camera, and asks: "Chat, is this real?" Not you. Chat. As in, the collective blob of thousands of people typing simultaneously in a box that scrolls faster than anyone can actually read.
Picture this: you're in a room with 10,000 people. Everyone’s talking at once. Your voice disappears the second you speak.
No one can hear you specifically, but somehow, collectively, the room responds.
Streamers call it Chat. Capital C, singular. They talk to it like it's a person. "Chat, are we cooked?" “Ws in the chat.” As if thousands of anonymous usernames and emotes scrolling by at light speed constitute a coherent intelligence. This is the livestream chatbox. And it’s created a very specific kind of sociality.
Informal, ephemeral, and paradoxically intimate, this is a social architecture designed to be extremely profitable for anyone willing to leverage it. And it's worth paying attention to, because the dynamics it produces are showing up everywhere else online too.
We'll be exploring these phenomena further in our research and programming this year, particularly as it connects to our ongoing theme: What Was I Looking At Again? – aka the dizzying, effects of platforms. And coming up on 16 May at Symposihmm: The New Orality, we’ll look at how these modes of communication are reshaping how we talk – and how we think.
Keep scrolling for first dibs on our upcoming events, and see you soon.
Deuces,
◌ ◌ ◌ The Hmm ◌ ◌ ◌
Join us on 16 May for our Symposihmm: The New Orality (full program announced!)
Are you still reading this? Good.
In recent years, some theorists have begun to describe a shift toward a new "oral age", where information spreads through short-form video and audio formats. Is it a coincidence that this maps almost exactly onto the rise of the algorithmic feed?
On 16 May, our Symposihmm: The New Orality looks at what this shift means for how we think, learn, and communicate with each other. Are we losing something or adapting to new forms? Can both be true at once?
Across talks, workshops, and performances, artists and researchers help us unpack and navigate these new modalities. With Elise Swart, Kevin Munger, Reginold Royston, Firat Yücel, Sal Hagen, Daniël de Zeeuw, Aylin Kurcel, Maria Mombers, Gjorgji Despodov, Max, Jonas Lund, and Maxime Garcia Diaz.
Check out the event page for more information on speakers and the programme.
Stuff you should know
Date: Saturday 16 May 2026
Time: 13.30 – 18.00 CEST (doors open 13.00)
Location: Tolhuistuin, IJpromenade 2, 1031 KT, Amsterdam + The Inbetween (our custom livestream)
Tickets: on-site €27.50 / student €20 / livestream €7.50
Accessibility: The IJzaal at Tolhuistuin is wheelchair accessible. Live closed captioning available on request
Want a custom candy goodie bag? Join our live Candy Stream this Thursday! 🍬
On Thursday 30 April, we're doing something a little different. Your feed is designed to be just as addictive as candy. So to celebrate our upcoming Symposihmm: The New Orality, we're putting together free candy goodie bags – and we're making the orders live, in the stream. Pick your favourite candy (you can choose between 🍌 🦈 👄 🍓 👅) and let us know in the chat. You can collect your personalised bag on 16 May at the symposihmm at Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam. It's a small experiment in chatbox participation and whether you prefer gummy sharks or strawberry laces. Any connection to Italian Brainrot characters and Fruit Love Island characters is purely incidental. See you in the chat!
Stuff you should know
Date: Thursday 30 April 2026
Time: 20:00 – 20:30 CEST
Location: The Inbetween & Instagram
Photo credits: Benze de Ream
Hmmterviewee of the Month: Benze de Ream
This month's Hmmterviewee is Benze de Ream, a designer, artist, and researcher investigating the political and cognitive mechanics of algorithmic systems. A graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven's Geo-Design department and recipient of the Gijs Bakker Award, Benze recently published The Blue Flower Syndrome through Aksioma, exploring palatability, power, and computation through a single rushed train journey to an interview on a Dutch iris farm.
Do you have any tricks or methods you use to prevent going on your phone when you don't want to?
I either get to work, or if I don’t have the capacity for that I look out the window or people watch if I’m outside. Content is happening live around us 24/7 and it doesn’t come with a lobotomy.
What’s the most ridiculous rabbit hole you’ve ever fallen on the internet?
Wikipedia is the only place I can truly lose myself, last time it got out of hand I'd somehow ended up deep in Rothschild family lineage way past my bedtime. Did I learn anything valuable? No. Will I regurgitate that info in my art? Probably.
What’s the weirdest thing an algorithm has recommended to you?
About that…I’m feeling both concerned and blessed because I somehow don’t register recommended content, I just scroll straight past it. I’m wondering if it might be ADHD-induced selective blindness 🤷🏼♀️
Have you ever changed how you speak because of the internet? How?
Omg yes! I'm pretty sure the way I present work publicly is entirely shaped by years of podcasts and YouTube talks consumption, which is either very modern or mildly embarrassing, I haven't decided.
What's an online tool everyone should know about?
I’m a bit of an old man when it comes to refreshing my toolbox. But my bestie and design extraordinaire, @ievavalule, recently introduced me to tldraw, which I now use all the time to present work to clients and collaborators.
Hot take: Do podcasts or audiobooks count as reading (and does it matter)?
They absolutely DO NOT count! I actually spent a year post-burnout without reading much at all, instead I listened to audio material and I noticed tehe cognitive difference. READ! I say this with love and genuine concern.
Find Benze online on Instagram @benzedeream. Get Blue Flower Syndrome here.
Photo from Make Your Own Slobject workshop.
Learning by Doing: The Hmm Does Workshops
Behind the scenes at The Hmm, we've been developing new workshop formats that translate our research into hands-on, participatory experiences.
Our workshop methodology is rooted in the belief that the best way to understand digital culture is to make something with it, in it, or about it. Whether that's building your own algorithmic feed, deconstructing platform mechanics, or experimenting with alternative communication – we're interested in learning by doing.
Workshops are available to book for educational institutions, cultural organisations, and anyone looking to engage critically and playfully with internet culture. Get in touch if you're interested: educatie@thehmm.nl
Save the Date: Vibe Code Meal Prep with us on Saturday June 6 @ The Hmm Studio
We're cooking up something for early June at our studio in NDSM: VIBE CODE MEAL PREP, a food-futuring workshop that uses AI to turn emerging online food trends, specialty ingredients, and whatever's in your fridge into actual recipes you can cook this week.
Created by Genomic Gastronomy, an artist-led think tank by Cathrine Kramer and Zack Denfeld, the workshop sits at the intersection of biotechnology, biodiversity, and internet food culture. Genomic Gastronomy's mission: map food controversies, prototype alternative culinary futures, and imagine a more just, biodiverse, and beautiful food system. More details coming soon.
Stuff you should know:
Date: 6 June 2026
Time: 14:00 – 17:00 CEST
Location: The Hmm Studio, NDSM, Amsterdam
Tickets: €12,50 regular, €9,50 students. Limited spots available!
Image by Susann Mielke from Pixabay
Hmm-ing in the wild
Come find us at the following events!
◯ until 2 August, Beyond the Manosphere – Masculinities Today @ Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (hear what we think in the audio tour)
◯ 1 May, Make Your Own Slobject workshop @ refugee center Amsterdam North
◯ 5 May, Make Your Own Slobject workshop @ Vrijheidslunch, Huis , in collaboration with Amsterdam Museum
◯ 21 May, Datacenter tour for the Dept. of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano
◯ 22 May, Make Your Own Slobject workshop @ Kindercampus Mokum
◯ 16+17 June, EmojiTalk @ UWV Vakdagen
Had a taste and want some more? The Hmm workshops are available to book here.
Activities in the digital field
◯ Open call: Small File Media Festival (deadline: July 1)
◯ Save the date: July 13 – 23, Hackers & Designers Summer Camp, open call coming soon
◯ Exhibition: until May 9, Content Machines – Jouissance @ Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam
You read the whole thing. We knew you had it in you. See you on 16 May – or in the chat.
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