Joint International Workshop on Infrastructures of Rent Extraction

On November 27, a joint international workshop on Infrastructures of Rent Extraction will take place in Bologna. This INCA event has been organized by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Bologna and the Department of Contemporary History at Nova University Lisbon, in collaboration with CoLABOR, the University of Évora, and FCT.

The workshop will explore the relationship between global infrastructures and practices of rent extraction, both historically and in the contemporary global context. It aims to foster a collective reflection on the ways in which rent relations extend far beyond land markets and shape the global circulation and capture of value across logistical, extractive, and digital infrastructures.

To this end, around ten experts will participate in the workshop, including several INCA members. Mattia Frapporti, Sandro Mezzadra, and Maurilio Pirone from the University of Bologna, together with Niccolò Cuppini from SUPSI, will take part as discussants.

Full program:

13.00-13.30 Introduction
Rethinking Imperialist Rent through the Politics of Global Infrastructures
Amedeo Policante (Nova University of Lisbon) & Mattia Frapporti (Bologna University)

13.30-15.00 Digital Infrastructures, Technoscience Rents, and Artistic Resistence

• Technocapitalism: The Political of the Interface: Guillermo García Santos (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid&Università di Bologna)
• A new System? Crisis, capital and the State in the Italian digital sovereignty: Davide Blotta (University of Urbino)

• Obstructing the flow: Artistic form of resistance in the age of Rentier Capitalism: Sara Marhuenda Barberà (Universitàt Politecnica de València)

Discussants: Maurilio Pirone (University of Bologna) & Mattia Frapporti (University of Bologna)

15.30-17.00 Speculative Infrastructures and Financial Rents

• A Submarine Extractive Enclave: Deep-Sea Mining and Rent Extraction in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone
  Erica Borg (University College London)
• Projects and Opposition
  Evelina Gambino (University of Cambridge)

Discussants: Sandro Mezzadra (University of Bologna), Niccolò Cuppini (University of Sourthern Switzerland), Amedeo
Policante (Nova University of Lisbon)

17.00-17.30 Roundtable

This Joint International Workshop between the Institute of Contemporary History and the University of Bologna is funded by national funds through FCT — Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the projects UID/04209 and LA/P/0132/2020 (doi.org/10.54499/LA/P/0132/2020); and by the European Union project ‘INCA: Increase Corporate Political Responsibility and Accountability’ with the collaboration of COLABOR.