<nettime> Call for Projects: Error 406 [Netstalgia] Not Acceptable

[!Mediengruppe Bitnik via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Hey hey,

you might remember the call we posted here last year: Error 406 [Tech 
Fascism] Not Acceptable.

Error 417 launched the online exhibition 13 Scores Against Tech Fascism 
with the funded projects a few weeks ago. The 13 works, condensed into 
scores, manuals, and how-tos, offer immediate, poetic, and often 
humorous forms of resistance, refusal, and subversion against 
techfascism. They're frameworks for action, meant to be shared, 
repeated, and adapted.

🔗 https://error417.expectation.fail/13scoresagainsttechfascism/

Also wanted to let you know about this year's call: Error 406 
[Netstalgia] Not Acceptable. We're looking for projects that reject the 
longing for a mythic "old internet" and confront the politics of net 
nostalgia head-on. We're very happy to have a great jury on board: Chia 
Amisola, Olia Lialina, Vladan Joler and Peter Sunde. See the mail below 
for details, or check the full call online:

🕳️ https://error417.expectation.fail/406/netstalgia-not-acceptable/open-call

!Mediengruppe Bitnik


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Call for Projects: Error 406 [Netstalgia] Not Acceptable
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:10:17 +0100
From: Newsletter Error 417 Expectation Failed <bot@expectation.fail>

◯ ▶ ERROR 417 È͔Ẍ̜́̉PE͂ͅĆ͔T̛͕ͤATĮ̾ͧO͂͝N̑ F̊̆͘AI͙L̇̊͜ED —̣̝ͅ N̴͚E͔W̎SL̹̮͟E͕͇T̯͞T̯ͪE̹͆̕R ◀ ◯

— Hello internet
We are excited to announce the launch of Error 417 Expectation Failed's 
second open call: Error 406 [Netstalgia] Not Acceptable, through which 
we are looking for projects that reject the longing for a mythic “old 
internet” and confront the politics of net nostalgia head-on.

◯ ▶ O͕V̍ͤ͠ER̦ͩV̒ÍE̻ͯẀ̻ ◀ ◯
① Call for Projects: Error 406 [Netstalgia] Not Acceptable
② Introducing Error 417 Expectation Failed
③ Connect


①
Error 406 N̔͠E̪̋̅TS͞T̸̙̙A̚L͔̟͊GIA̎ Not Acceptable
— Call for Projects

In 2026, our open call for projects Error 406 [Netstalgia] Not 
Acceptable focuses on the notion of netstalgia: a selective and 
idealized remembering of earlier phases of the internet. In this mode of 
recollection, past platforms, interfaces and online practices are 
recalled more open, creative or participatory than they actually were. 
Netstalgia is platform capitalism's crisis management disguised as 
cultural memory. It converts platform fatigue into aesthetic revival 
while leaving extraction, data capture, and corporate control untouched.
We support artworks that cultivate a clear-eyed view of the past: works 
that challenge a netstalgia that merely softens critique or reinforces 
existing platform politics, while also exploring how revisiting history 
can open pathways to more equitable and inclusive futures.
Our open call asks what protocols, networks and shared conditions are 
necessary to build an internet worth inhabiting today; how to address 
governance, moderation and sustainability in calls for decentralization; 
how to carve out spaces on restrictive platforms to extend users’ scope 
of action; and how to mobilize migration toward already existing 
alternatives.


— Details
⦿ Grants from €1,500 to €7,000
⦿ Open to artists, curators, and collectives
⦿ Application deadline: 4 May 2026
⦿ Deadline for the works: 30 October 2026
⦿ Jury: Chia Amisola, Olia Lialina, Vladan Joler and Peter Sunde
↗ Read the full call for projects: 
https://error417.expectation.fail/406/netstalgia-not-acceptable

You are welcome to share this call in your networks. ♥ Graphic design by 
Knoth & Renner.


② IŃ̟̗Tͬ́RODUC̳̓Ĭ̭̤N̰G̎ ERROR 417 E̬X̐P̛̆Ȅ͔͍CT͉ͮA̸Tͯ̂̓IO̝͜N F̋AỊ̊ͅL̥͇E̸͟͜D

Error 417 Expectation Failed is an independent foundation supporting 
radically contemporary Internet art and net-based arts practices. We 
encourage open-ended formats, risky projects and explorative artworks 
that engage critically with contemporary technology. Our focus lies on 
art that addresses the frictions between technology, aesthetics, 
politics and social relations to challenge power structures — one hack, 
glitch, fail, error, process and experiment at a time.
Error 417 Expectation Failed was launched in 2025 by the artists 
!Mediengruppe Bitnik as a infrastructural art project.

↗ Visit our website to find out more about the foundation:
https://error417.expectation.fail



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