Institute of Network Cultures | Let’s Play Image Type Charades!
Proceedings from my presentation during EXIT FEST on the 24th of June 2026, in celebration of Geert Lovink and the Institute of Network Cultures’ departure from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) on September 1, 2026. The Digital Image is Non-Static While we usually think of images as static objects, they are in fact never completely stable. Processing, use, and semiotics may all affect the life of the image: a photograph may exist as a momentary render, while also becoming evidence, or a symbol, depending on how, where, and by whom it is used or seen. In contemporary digital imaging environments, this instability becomes more significant because the image is continuously (re-)processed. Within these environments, the image is both a surface activated through semiotic interpretation and an asset subject to technical, institutional, and operational procedures such as compression, classification, or moderation, just to name a few. Since these procedures are distributed ac