You made it past the subject line. ! 💬 Join us on Saturday, 16 May, 13.30–18.00 CEST at Tolhuistuin (Amsterdam) and online, to discuss the implications of the so-called "new oral age".
Since the algorithmic feed took over in the mid-2010s, we've shifted from reading to reacting. And the data backs it up: literacy and critical reasoning skills have been declining measurably across multiple countries during this exact same period. Some researchers call this a return to orality – a new oral age in which information spreads through speech-like, affective formats rather than text. If they're right, this isn't just about how we consume media. It's about how we think.
Our Symposihmm: The New Orality digs into this shift. Saturday 16 May at Tolhuistuin (and via The Inbetween livestream), we're gathering researchers, artists, and practitioners to explore what's actually changing. What does this mean for how we understand the world and each other?
💬 Programme
13.30–14.45
- Welcome and introduction
- Talk by Elise Swart on literacy and online platforms
- Talk by Kevin Munger on the new orality
15.00–16.15
- Workshop “Make Your Own Slobject” by Maria Mombers
- “Video Exchange Trading Spawner Dopamine Hitting Point” by Max
- “Doom Scroll Rehab: Cache Cleanse” by Gjorgji Despodov
16.30–18.00
- Talk by Reginold Royston on podcasting, new orality and the African mediascape
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A panel discussion on how various disciplines (try to) get a grip on the new orality, featuring:
- Filmmakers Aylin Kuryel & Fırat Yücel
- Researchers Daniël de Zeeuw and Sal Hagen
- Author Maxime Garcia Diaz
✦ Performance by Jonas Lund throughout the day
Stuff you should know
📅 Date: Saturday 16 May 2026
🕗 Times: 13.30–18.00 CEST
📍 Location: Tolhuistuin, IJpromenade 2, Amsterdam & online via our online event space The Inbetween
🎟 Tickets: €27.50 on-site / €20 student / €7.50 livestream
Feel free to reach out to us at info@thehmm.nl for some solidarity tickets we have available.
You can find information about physical accessibility at Tolhuistuin here.
Meet the artists & speakers
Kevin Munger is Assistant Professor and holds the Chair of Computational Social Science at the European University Institute in Florence. He studies political communication on the internet and will speak on what we can understand as the new orality.
Elise Swart is Assistant Professor of Education and Learning at Leiden University. Her research focuses on attention, reading comprehension, and the effects of technology on reading. She'll explore the decline in reading proficiency among young people and how digital platforms affect concentration and deep reading.
Reginold Royston is Associate Professor in African Cultural Studies and Computing & AI at the University of . He examines technoculture in Africa and explores the 'new orality' in viral dance, podcasting, and other aural media in Black culture, digital interfaces where orality will soon dominate our use culture.
Jonas Lund creates paintings, sculpture, photography, websites, and performances that critically reflect on networked systems and power structures. His one-on-one performance OPTIMAL BRAIN ROT STRATEGY GUIDE is delivered via FaceTime, a satirical wellness session that mirrors and critiques our digital behaviours.
Maxime Garcia Diaz is a writer of poetry and prose. Her debut collection Het is warm in de hivemind won the C. Buddingh'-prijs 2022; her second, The network must be built (2025), was nominated for the Herman de Coninckprijs. She'll discuss translating the non-linear, fragmented experience of the internet to text.
Sal Hagen is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in public AI and digital methods at the University of Amsterdam. He studies the materiality of AI technologies and develops novel research tools. Together with Daniël de Zeeuw, he'll discuss digital rhythmanalysis, vibes, and vectors.
Daniël de Zeeuw is Assistant Professor in digital media culture at UvA, researching chronically online subcultures, platform logics, and political radicalisation. With Sal Hagen, he'll discuss digital rhythmanalysis, secondary orality, and the web.
Fırat Yücel is a documentary director and editor whose work centres on collective filmmaking and resistance against censorship. Aylin Kuryel is Assistant Professor at UvA researching nationalism, image politics, and the politics of emotions, and works as a documentary filmmaker. Together, they'll discuss their film happiness, video essays, and détournement.
Maria Mombers is a designer and researcher exploring the monetisation of attention and e-commerce. She'll host the workshop "Make Your Own Slobject" on contemporary online shopping, gamification, and manipulative design.
Gjorgji Despodov is a artist whose practice blends investigative methods with playful storytelling rooted in the internet and digital culture. He'll guide you through the ritual of a Cache Cleanse.
Max: All of Max's artistic and life achievements can be traced back to over twenty years of unrestricted internet access. He'll host Video Exchange Trading Spawner Dopamine Hitting Point, a communal dive into YouTube's depths.
Ticket giveaway! 📢
Especially for newsletter subscribers, we're giving away two +1 guestlist spots for The New Orality on 16 May. Email us before May 10 with: What's the last thing you actually read all the way through? (Not scrolled, not skimmed.) And what's your relationship with reading in 2026? The two best entries win 2 free tickets each.
This symposium is part of What Was I Looking At Again?, The Hmm's year-long exploration of how schemes of organising and disseminating information are changing the way we consume, perceive, and think.
This programme is kindly supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and hosted by Tolhuistuin.
VIBE CODE MEAL PREP: A food futuring workshop at The Hmm Studio, Amsterdam – 6 June 🍲
We're cooking something up (literally) at our NDSM studio: VIBE CODE MEAL PREP, a food-futuring workshop that uses AI to transform online food trends, speciality ingredients, and whatever's in your fridge into recipes you can actually cook this week.
For this edition, we're exploring: Biomaxxing, Doomer Food, Spice Combinatorics, and (MVPs). Through LLMs, prompt engineering, and data visualisation, we'll develop hybrid recipes that graft together hyperlocal plants, alternative proteins, and globally traded commodities. After a short intro, you'll taste-test unusual ingredients, experiment with vibe code tools, and work in small groups to create 4 personalised AI-generated recipes based on your actual shopping list.
Leave with recipes you can cook, share with friends, or post to your favourite food community online. The workshop is developed by The Centre for Genomic Gastronomy, the artist-led think tank by Cathrine Kramer and Zack Denfeld that maps food controversies, prototypes alternative culinary futures, and imagines more just, biodiverse, and delicious food systems.
Stuff you should know
📅 Date: Saturday 6 June 2026
🕗 Times: 14.00–17.00 CEST
📍 Location: The Hmm Studio, NDSM plein 125, Amsterdam
🎟 Tickets: €12.50 regular / €9,50 student
This programme is kindly supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.
Thanks for reading. Hope to see you soon!
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