Through critical research and as a teacher, I hope to contribute to a world where everyone, regardless of their gender identity & expression, sexual & relationship orientations & preferences, skin color, religion, country of birth, age, economic situation & background, and physical & mental characteristics, can live a beautiful life. 
 

Researcher & Editor at the Institute of Network Cultures

 

The Institute of Network Cultures (INC) is an applied science research unit inside the Digital Media and Creative Industries faculty of the Amsterdam University of Applied Science. As Researcher & Editor I am responsible for giving direction to socially relevant research in the field of internet critique. From writing fund applications to building & maintaining a network of researchers, journalists, artists, activists and other makers and thinkers. During the production phase, I am responsible for leading the research team and coordinating the (hybrid) events & publications. 

I am interested in the tactics marginalized people use to change oppressive discourses in the digital public sphere - from social media comment wars and call-out culture to political memes. I also co-edited the two INC Readers about critical meme research that were published in 2021 and 2022 and am co-editing the third to be published in 2024.

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Teacher, Ethics and Diversity & Inclusion at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Next to my role as Researcher at INC, I work as a teacher at the Communication and Multimedia Design program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, where I help students to critically reflect on their digital designs, in the context of the society they live in and the future they would like to see. I am also a member of the university's Research Ethics Committee and I take part in a couple of Diversity & Inclusion workgroups. 
 

Academic Background  & Volunteer Work

I have a background in both Media Studies and Philosophy, through a BA, pre-MA and MA at the University of Amsterdam. 

 

During the Amsterdam City Council elections in 2022, I supported the Amsterdam BIJ1 communication team as a volunteer during the campaign. In the past, I have also volunteered for organizations such as Amnesty International NL, Voedselbank Amsterdam, and Rode Kruis Amsterdam.

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Culture & Society Copywriter 

Before this, I worked as a freelance Copywriter, Communications Consultant and Journalist for multiple years. 

I worked with clients in the cultural and social sector such as 113 Zelfmoordpreventie, Amsterdam Art Weekend, Amsterdam Dance Event, Amsterdam Light Festival, COC Nederland, Volkshotel, Friendly Fire, Gemeente Amsterdam, Museumnacht Amsterdam, CJP, Solidaridad, VICE, TEDxAmsterdamWomen and various electronic music events, urban developers and creative entrepreneurs.

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Publications & Appearances 

Topics I write and speak about include:

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(political) meme studies / the digital public sphere / social media comment discussions & call out culture / algorithmic censorship in social media platforms / intersectional justice / research ethics / speculative & social design / queer theory & experience 

 

2024

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• Critical Meme Reader III: Breaking the Meme, edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Idil Galip, 2024 (forthcoming).
   

2023​​​​

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• Confessions of a Political Meme Maker in SWIPE by Mieke Gerritzen (Next Nature Network), 2023 (forthcoming).

• Memes Beyond Images, SWIPE launch @ Next Nature Network, Evoluon (speaker), 2023 (forthcoming).

• Breaking the Meme, guest lecture @ Geert Lovink's Art and Network Cultures course at the University of Amsterdam, 2023.

• Memes als dialectische beelden voor maatschappelijke verandering @ Filosofie in de Postdigitale Wereld (minor van de Faculteit Digitale Media & Creatieve Industrie van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam), 2023 (gastles).

• Cartoon vs. Memes: hoe humor ons door oorlogen en epidemieën helpt @ Noorderzon Festval of Performing Arts & Society (panelgesprek), 2023.

• Your memes could be artistic interventions, Culturala Journal, 2023.

• Memes as Political Tools for Radical Change: Reflections on Viral Image Culture @ Master Photography and Society, Royal Academy of Art The Hague (guest lecture), 2023.

• In-Between Media: Hybrid Tactics in the Crisis Era INC Conference @ Spui25, Framer Framed & OT301 Amsterdam (moderator, curator, producer), 2023.

• Memes as an Artistic Research Practice @ Research-Creation: Merging the Critical and Creative, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (guest lecture with Laurence Scherz), 2023.

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2022

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• Challenging Oppressive Discourses in the Digital Public Sphere: Reflections on Anger and Empathy in Comment Wars, 2022.  

• Memes voorbij online beelden: grappige kattenplaatjes of tools voor maatschappelijke betrokkenheid? @Mediamakers in Platformsamenleving, CO+CB, Hogeschool van Amsterdam (gastles), 2022.

• Politiek geëngageerd memetisch filmmaken @ On the Movie, Nederlandse Filmacademie, Breitner Academie, Netwerk Filmeducatie (gastlest), 2022.

• Memes hebben macht en kunnen bijdragen aan een rechtvaardige wereld door Lisette Wegener, Hogeschool van Amsterdam (persbericht), 2022.  

• Memes Beyond Images: Memetic Tacticality INC Conference / Critical Meme Reader #2 launch @ Spui25 (curator, moderator and producer), 2022.

• Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality, edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz, 2022. 

• Political Meme Toolkit: Leftist Meme Makers Share Their Trade Secrets in Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality, 2022. 

• Memetic Tacticality: Introduction in Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality, 2022. 

• Memes hebben macht @ Emerce.nl, door redactie, 2022.

• The Workings of Populism: From Far Right to Centre Parties @ Humans of Film Festival at Het Ketelhuis (panel member Eine Deutsche Partei viewing), 2022. 

• Memes Beyond Images, guest lecture @ Geert Lovink's Art and Network Cultures course at the University of Amsterdam, 2022.

• Waarom ik twee keer nadenk voordat ik been gifje van een persoon van kleur verstuur, door Lars Delleman, Brandpunt+ (KRO NCRV/NPO 3), 2022.

• Stuck on the platform, interview with Geert Lovink (THE VOID podcast host), 2022.

• Politieke plaatjes, wat doen memes met ons? @ Happy Chaos Amsterdam (panelgesprek), 2022. 

• The Potential and Limits for Call-Out Culture as an Activist Practice: How the Internet Tried to Hold J. K. Rowling Accountable for her TERF'ism, 2022. 

• Impact van politieke memes (van politieke partijen) @ Mediastorm (talkshow NPO2/Omroep Human), 2022.

• Has the Tweet Become a Meme? in PrtScn: The Lazy Art of Screenshot edited by Dunja Nesovic, 2022.

• Kan je in Nederland grappen maken over de oorlog in Oekraïne? @ Alicante (podcast NPO Radio1 & BNNVARA), 2022.

• Meme-accounts hebben meer invloed op de verkiezingen dan je zou denken, door Jan van Tienen, VICE NL, 2022.

• Zijn memes de nieuwe cartoons? door Carolien Ronde, De VARA Gids, 2022.

• Deze jongeren gaan stemmen, jij ook? door Noene Kazarjan, BNNVARA, 2022.

• Interview met Jazie Veldhyzen, Amsterdam BIJ, 2022.

• Stop Being Reasonable: On Nonviolence in Social Media Comment Wars, 2022. 

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2021

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• Global Mutations of the Viral Image: Critical Meme Reader, edited by Chloë Arkenbout, Jack Wilson and Daniel de Zeeuw, 2021. 

• Global Mutations of the Viral Image: Critical Meme Reader launch @ Spui25 (curator, moderator and producer), 2021.

• Values and Limits of the Instagram Infographic: On Marginalized Groups Reclaiming Their Power to Define, 2021.

• De Macht van Memes met Chloë Arkenbout @ Het Redelijke Midden (podcast), 2021.

• The Left Can Meme: Strategies to Challenge Dutch Oppressive Political Discourses, 2021. 

• Diary of a Meme Reader Co-Editor: Navigating the Ethics of Meme Copyright, Meme Studies Research Network, 2021.

• How memes are evolving beyond the image, Next Nature Network, 2021.

• The Digital Gutmensch: The Ethics of Challenging Oppressive Discourse in Online Public Debate, 2021.   

• The Digitarian Society @ Tetem (panel member), 2021.

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