Urgent Publishing: Opening by Nishant Shah

15-17 May 2019, the Institute of Network Cultures, ArtEZ University of the Arts and Willem de Kooning Academy organized Urgent Publishing, a 3-day event with discussions, explorations and experiments about publishing strategies in post-truth times. 
Topics of the conference included memes as means, federated publishing, post-humanist writing, and critical design. Part of the conference took place as a parasitic event at the artist-run space Motel Spatie in Arnhem’s working-class suburb Presikhaaf, #synchronicityofparasites.

While digital publishing technologies have helped bring different voices onto the stage, they also instigated the ‘post-truth’ era, leaving a disenchanted public behind to scavenge the rubble of breaking fake news stories, information pollution and broken links. 
How can designers, developers, artists, writers and publishers intervene in the public debate and counter misinformation in a meaningful and relevant way? What are new publishing strategies for our current media landscape? How to design for urgency without succumbing to an accelerated hype cycle?

Nishant Shah, Vice President of Research at ArtEZ University of the Arts, opened the Arnhem segment of the conference with a talk introducing the topic of new strategies in post-truth times.