Stimuleringsfonds

The Open Call Grounding the Cloud focused on new making and thinking processes that reduce the ecological impact of digital technologies. With an available budget of € 200,000, eight projects were selected. Team Digital Culture reflects on the selection.

26 November 2025

general impression

The call was issued to encourage practices that contribute to slower, careful and more conscious handling of digital resources, such as regenerative ways of working, degrowth principles, low-tech solutions and reusing hardware. Interest in the call was high and the committee was very impressed with the quality of the applications.

Projects that were appreciated are artistically strong, make a clear translation into action perspectives and embed themselves in relevant communities. Many of these projects were submitted by makers and collectives with proven expertise, who have been working with this theme for some time. As expected, many projects focus on developing workshops, toolkits and manuals to share practical knowledge. In particular, the committee appreciated the social and community-based approaches and a strong reflection on sustainability, including naming their own limitations or contradictions. In addition, the decolonial perspective was explicitly addressed in several proposals. Projects with an affective approach also scored well, making the ecological impact of digital systems tangible and imaginable.

At the same time, the committee found that some proposals are limited to raising awareness, without making clear how they actually bring about behavioural change. The committee also noted that the working method of some projects seemed to conflict with the call – for example, by not reflecting on material consumption or air travel.

The proposals were assessed by an external selection committee consisting of Chris Julien, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer and Leanne Wijnsma.

selection

A few notable projects are:

Rooted Networks – People of Earth
Rooted Networks by People of Earth explores how decentralised wireless networks can provide environmentally sustainable alternatives to the extractive cloud. The project is conducted from an Afrofuturist perspective that connects traditional knowledge with speculative visions on technology, culture and survival. In collaboration with an eco-village, People of Earth is developing a working mesh network using recycled hardware and solar power. By means of workshops, participants build their own communication hubs. The knowledge is shared as open source. The mesh network ultimately results in an interactive art installation, where invisible signals are made perceptible by converting data streams into sound and visuals.

B10di3$eLLM (BiodieseLLM) – Volksamt!
B10di3$eLLM by Volksamt! is a performative installation that makes visible the material cost of AI by creating a slow LLM (Little Language Model) that runs on a microcomputer powered by a DIY biodiesel refinery. The project operates as hyper-localised speculative fiction: what if the only remaining energy source in the Netherlands was the frying oil from a snack bar? A performer tries to keep the diesel-addicted AI system running on biodiesel, while the chatbot measures its own carbon emissions and tries to avert disaster before it becomes a net polluter itself. The work is being realised in collaboration with artists Jan Zuiderveld and Ritsert Mans and with support from Marc’s Snackbar. The knowledge gained will be shared in a workshop and the work presented at V2_ Lab for Unstable Media.

Green Archiving: Imaginaries of Archival Futures – Valiz
Green Archiving: Imaginaries of Archival Futures is being compiled by Annet Dekker in collaboration with Valiz. The publication and accompanying website address necessary questions about the increasing use of technology in archival practices and offer alternatives. Through essays, interviews and design speculations, Dekker and Valiz explore how archives are not only means of preserving the past, but can also become active forces in shaping an ecologically and justly responsible future. The project combines insights from archival studies, design disciplines, the arts, ecocriticism, and feminist and decolonial theories, and translates them into concrete alternatives to existing institutional models.

The following projects were also selected:

Do Not Panic, Organise – Ola Bonati: Formation of a better-organised network for artistic research within the permacomputing community through a hybrid three-day series about the reuse of hardware and community organising.
r00ts – AIxDesign: Development of an open-source tool for tracking and visualising the ecological impact of personal internet use.
Recyclers van de Verbeelding – Luuk Schröder: Research into making analogue film projectors from e-waste streams in collaboration with WEEE Nederland, with the making process taking place at the recycling-centre site.
Tidal Computing – Mark IJzerman: Development of a tidal-driven server installation that functions with natural cycles, with the server acting as an artificial reef and users earning server space by caring for the ecosystem.
prikbord.page – Vitrinekast: Online events calendar designed with, by and for Rotterdam-based cultural organisations to collectively move away from large platforms.

numbers

The Open Call Grounding the Cloud was open from 15:00 on 14 August until 16:00 on 25 September 2025. A total of 60 applications were submitted, and after a check on the formal criteria and completeness, 56 of these were taken into consideration. Of the 32 positively assessed applications, eight were selected for subsidy. The total budget available was € 200,000. As the total amount applied for by the positively assessed applications exceeded the available budget, prioritisation was carried out based on the final score. The eight highest-scoring projects are receiving grants.

View the entire selection in the awarded grants archive (in Dutch)

follow-up

The Open Call Grounding the Cloud will be issued for the second time in 2026. To support projects in the field of digital culture, you can also apply to the Digital Culture Grant Scheme. The next subsidy period opens in autumn 2026.