Digital Sovereignty and Its Differend (Workshop)
21. May - 22. May
The Centre for Digital Cultures invites you to the upcoming workshop “Digital Sovereignty and Its Differend,” with talks by Florian Dombois (ZHdK), Katia Schwerzmann (RUB) and others. This workshop is the second installment in a series of workshops on “Digital Sovereignty,” a collaboration between Prof. Dr. Claus Pias (Leuphana University of Lüneburg) and Dr. Johannes Bennke (Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg).
- Thursday, May 21 / 10 am – 6 pm / C5.326
- Friday, May 22 / 10 – 11:30 am / C5.326
- This event takes place in German and English.
- Registration is not necessary.
Contact: cdcforum@leuphana.de
In this workshop we examine the concept of digital sovereignty in terms of its conceptual vagueness and inherent contradictions. We discuss the thesis that the fragmentation of digital publics—as described by Habermas in his analysis of structural change—is not solely attributable to the dynamics of platform capitalism, but rather follows a deeper logic of media transmission. Drawing on Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of the “differend” (le différend), we propose a framework that makes the incommensurability of competing forms of digital sovereignty tangible: diverging values and norms are not only socially negotiated but inscribed in codes, algorithms, and protocols. In platform capitalism, the absence of an overarching rule of judgment is filled by opaque governance structures with monopolistic tendencies. At the intersection of art, philosophy, and media studies, we expand the discourse on sovereignty—which addresses technological hegemony and the state of exception—to include related concepts such as autonomy, self-determination, and individual and collective agency.