Salwa’s Internet Café

SALWA’s Internet Café is an invitation to Re-imagine the potential of a landscape that was created by the internet. Through an Open Call, creatives were invited to explore questions revolving around the internet as a space, virtual, physical, or conceptual.

Four migrant artists living in the Netherlands were accepted for a three-month residency at Salwa foundation. Participants met to share literature, resources, stories and experiences in relation to the topic. Invited guest lecturers from the field of art and technology gave talks and workshops for deeper reflections. The residency concluded with an exhibition at W139.

The open call was inspired by my research on the following question: "How did early internet infrastructures shape the experience of migrant communities?". Internet Cafés became widely popular in the early 90s and they became a meeting point to connect both online and offline, creating a community that was being built through a communal physical space in areas where internet access was not common.

Salwa’s Internet Café was established in partnership with Salwa Foundation and was funded and supported by The Creative Industries Fund NL, Amsterdam Fonds poor de Kunst (AFK) and Mondriaan Fonds. Partners for the project include The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, The Hmm, Varia Zone, W139 and The Institute of Network Cultures (INC).