Join the RUSTlab lectures this Summer 2026

This summer term 2026 we present to you our 15th round of RUSTlab Lectures. Come and join us for these exciting talks and discussions around this term’s guiding theme Scattered Grounds on five dates in the summerterm – online and on site.

Digital and planetary transformations rarely occur on solid ground. Green technologies exploit fragile ecosystems, digitalisation perpetuates colonial dependencies, and data infrastructures consume vast quantities of resources. Moving between server rooms, salt deserts, moorlands and Renaissance libraries, this lecture series explores what lies hidden behind the digital, the green and the virtual. In doing so, it examines the material, historical and epistemic foundations upon which the promises of change and progress are built.

List of speakers for the summer term 2026:

Thu 2026-04-30 14:00 – Leman Çelik, Stefan Laser, Estrid Sørensen, Sandra Abels (Ruhr University Bochum):
Staying with the Planet: The University that Tried to Reckon with Ecological Reality, Challenged Excessive Data Infrastructures, and Nurtured a Few Alternatives Not Planned For

Thu 2026-05-21 14:00 – Tobias Burgers (Fulbright University Vietnam):
Vietnam’s Quest for Technological Autonomy and How It Seeks to Navigate Between US, Sino and EU Dominance in the AI Era

Thu 2026-05-28 14:00 – Suzette van Haaren (Ruhr University Bochum):
The Virtual Library: What the Digital Reconstruction of the Bibliotheca Palatina Can Tell Us About How We Imagine Libraries

Special Events at the Mining Museum Bochum:

Wed 2026-06-10 17:30 – Patrick Brodie (University College Dublin):
From the Bog to the Cloud: Dependency and Eco-Modernity in Ireland

Thu 2026-06-11 18:00 – Thea Riofrancos (Providence College):
Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism

Download this year’s poster as a PDF.

All lectures will take place on-site and online
RUSTlab: Ruhr University Bochum MB 4/165
Mining Museum: Am Bergbaumuseum 28, 44791 Bochum
Streaming: https://tinyurl.com/RUSTlab
Password: RUSTlab

Illustration by Babette Hinterleitner
Fonts by https://typotheque.genderfluid.space