This course provides an overview of community-built roots and developments in software conservation, as well as where the field is heading. It covers academic and non-academic practical knowledge in the fields of software conservation, media archaeology, FLOSS, and community-based strategies, with a particular focus on queer-feminist hacktivism and techno-feminist approaches: “Resistance is always embodied; it unfolds in public spaces, within networks of care, and through practices of cultural translation and reinterpretation that all allow movements to resonate across different contexts.” (Grammatikopoulou 2026)

Please bring your laptops or smartphones, as well as chargers. Alongside theoretical insights, we will collectively tinker, research, fail, and take detours.

Interesting Literature (will be updated):

• Dekker, Annet. Collecting and Conserving Net Art. Moving Beyond Conventional Methods, 2018.
• Dewdney, et al. The Networked Image in Post-Digital Culture, 2022.
• Engel, et al. Conservation of Time-Based Media Art. London New York, 2023.
• Grammatikopoulou, Christina. Technofeminist Resistance: Aesthetics and Strategies of Dissent from the Streets to the Screens. London, 2026.
• Serexhe, et al. Konservierung digitaler Kunst: Theorie und Praxis: das Projekt digital art conservation. Wien, 2013.
• Vall, et al. Conservation of Contemporary Art: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice. 2024.

Assessment is based on class participation and a short presentation or essay.