Square promotional graphic for New Media Caucus exhibition “at the edge of the demiurge.” A hand-drawn speculative structure of platforms, suspended elements, cables, and organic forms occupies the center. Sketchbook-style notes and arrows fill the background. A dark band across the image contains the title, artist names, curator credit, and the New Media Caucus logo.
Home
new media caucus


Promo image of Media-N

Media-N Journal New CFP: "DIY New Media"

Call for Papers
Posted November 13, 2026

Theme: “DIY (New) Media”

Guest Editor: Constanza Salazar

We invite abstracts for articles, artists' projects, interviews, and reviews for a special issue of Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus on the theme of “DIY New Media”

In 1997, artists and theorists David Garcia and Geert Lovink described tactical media as:

"the cheap 'do it yourself' media, made possible by the revolution in consumer electronics and expanded forms of distribution (from public access cable to the internet) are exploited by groups and individuals who feel aggrieved by or excluded from the wider culture. Tactical media do not just report events, as they are never impartial they always participate and it is this that more than anything separates them from mainstream media."

Reflecting on today’s technological acceleration, media saturation, and monopolistic corporate ownership of media platforms by Big Tech, how can we co-create new zones for liberation, experimentation and critical thinking through DIY new media? What does collective media look like? Is DIY new media possible with the advancement of technological tools such as AI that appear to replace older forms of (ie. electronic) media? Is there room for craft with new forms of digital media?

Tactical Media was a movement from the 90s that can be traced back to earlier new media interventions by artists like Nam June Paik. In the 90s, it existed primarily across different hubs, and as short-term tactics and interventions. From the Next 5 Minutes Conferences (1993-2003), a festival devoted to tactical media, activism, and politics, to the international mailing list like Nettime, these were spaces for intellectual and political discussions about DIY media. Typically, made from readily available and cheap technologies, DIY media and their practitioners made room for critical discourse, subverting media messages and symbols, as well as creating forms of counter-information where they could expose the weaknesses of systems and then quickly dissolve out of sight. This was their superpower but also their limitation. From pirate radiocasters, self-managed servers, web hoaxes and culture jamming, web and performance tactics, what does DIY new media look like today?

Possible topics centering on DIY new media art practices include but are not limited to:

To submit an abstract for consideration, please use the following Google Form and submit by Jan. 31, 2027:

https://forms.gle/umT3ETwefm6qddqR6