Workshop “Forms of Digital Sovereignty”

Digital sovereignty has become a central theme of German and European digital policy over the past decade. Digital sovereignty primarily means dominance in global technological competition, cybersecurity, and digital education. A series of shocks, such as the Snowden revelations and the fake news debate, have anchored the term in public discourse, which has been further reinforced by the effects of social media on voting behavior, the extraction of data in platform capitalism, and the environmental impact of data centers. The response to these destructive forces has led to two concepts of sovereignty: one that emphasizes the integrity of the nation-state and the regulation of corporations, and one that emphasizes the agency of individuals and social groups. Sovereignty can take very different forms here: the collective practices of indigenous cultures are a different form of sovereign agency than that of libertarianism, while artistic practices in turn reveal entirely different, namely aesthetic, forms of sovereignty. The aim of the workshop “Forms of Digital Sovereignty” is to discuss various practices, forms, concepts, and related terms such as autonomy and self-determination in an interdisciplinary manner at the intersection of art and science.