Join us for an evening diving into the long histories of technological resistance, with MayDay rooms and Thomas Dekeyser.

At a time when Big Tech grows increasingly enmeshed with authoritarian control, how do we resist? One path, the new book, TECHNO-NEGATIVE: A LONG HISTORY OF REFUSING THE MACHINE argues, is to look deeply into the archives. From the Luddites to medieval monks banning tools, seventeenth-century loom burners, revolutionary lantern smashers, and computer arsonists, history is riddled with critical junctures where people have recognised and resisted the machine as a violent, sometimes deadly force.

Which traces in the archives does our current techno-dystopian moment call us to bring back to life? How do we draw energy from radical pasts without romanticising them? An informal panel with the author of the book (Thomas Dekeyser) will explore these questions, and will be followed by a chance to read through techno-negative archives, including Mayday Rooms’ own collections.