AMRO26
Becoming Unreadable
13th–16th May 2026, Linz (AT)

De-computing, De-networking, De-scaling, 
De-Platforming ourselves

Resisting computational depletion and totalizing AI
 

AMRO26 Becoming Unreadable interprets Dan McQuillan’s work into a broader inquiry into degrowth-oriented technological imaginaries. Such approaches are oriented toward a deconstruction of computational habits, and the unreflective use of digital resources, as well as in the articulation of alternative, ethics-oriented relationships to technology. In this sense, a set of operative gestures that extend the decomputing ones in specific subsets: de-networking questions the ways we consider webs of relations and connections with others; de-scaling prevents us from embracing abstract one-fits-all solutions with global aspirations and colonial effects; de-platforming (ourselves) as the reappropriation of the administrative responsibility over our own online presence; de-cloudifying as embracing asymmetries and asynchronicities in the interaction with files and folders across networks. By starting to label and address these alternative options first, we initiate a counter-strategy where shifting our vocabulary leaves space for rethinking our technological engagement.

The question is ultimately how to engage and react to this hyper-visibility, and whether there are strategies to twist around the dichotomy between being visible and, at the same time, hiding from the extractive surveillance tech. While developing the conceptual skeleton of the festival, the same logic of “radical openness” offered a strategic answer.

Being radical means consciously choosing to oppose a dominant system, favouring forms of total rupture rather than adaptation. This entails a clear awareness of both the advantages (pluses) and the disadvantages (minuses) that follow from it, as well as a willingness to accept their consequences. It is a position that is rarely easy or free of friction; it often requires compromise, commitment, and a degree of sacrifice, whether in terms of time, money, or other resources. At the same time, it is not merely an act of refusal, but also a (moral and social) commitment to choosing and sustaining alternative ways of thinking, acting, and organising.

Programme highlights