Servus.at Newsletter // September 2026  📯

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English version right here▼

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[EN only this month!]

Ahoi members!
Linz is so busy and international these days – this time we can only send a quick, english-only newsletter, surprising you with a „brand new focus“ for servus: independent and self-determined digitalisation! (="selbstbestimmte Digitalisierung") :)

Here’s the menu:

• The next Digital Independence Day is this Sunday! (in 2 days)

• 10-13.9: next week we are all HAUNTED!

  • Servus community contributions at stwst84x12

• 11:9 Demo: Learning from Kronstorf @Ars Electronica

  • shield preparing on 10th September

  • Demo on 11th September

• 12.9 Conversation & Tour: on infrastructures under threat!

  • Conversation on Autistici / Inventati: Fascists attack independent infrastructure. Who’s next?

  • Ghost-Busting Tour Through the Net-Haunted House

• + save the date for Libre Graphics Meeting (5-8 may 2027!)

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The next Digital Independence Day is this sunday! (in 2 days)

Sunday, 6^th Sept, 2pm
Willy*fred Gassenlokal, Graben 3

Where would you like to start? Switching from WhatsApp to Signal, or from Gmail to an ethical email provider? Installing Linux? Do you want to learn what the Fediverse is and how you can get involved? Are you looking for alternative software for specific areas?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that our dependence on U.S. Big Tech harms not only us personally, but also our society and the environment. To reduce this dependence, we celebrate Digital Independence Day every month.

On Sunday, September 6, 2026, starting at 2:00 p.m. at WillyFred Gassenlokal, Graben 3, we’ll come together to begin the transition from Big Tech to democracy-friendly digital alternatives, step by step. Join us, bring your friends, and let’s take the first steps together.

https://core.servus.at/en/en/about/blog/digital-independence-day-invitation

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next week we are all HAUNTED!

Wed 9.–Su 12. September
@Stadtwerkstatt & around

Join the programme at the stwst84x12 – Haunted. We are involved with several contributions in the house and on the streets!

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Servus community contributions at stwst84x12

We have two artistic contributions in the stwst84x12 from our community: Vaping Vampire from Christina Gruber and Aeolian Harp by joak and Remo Stuflesser.

Vaping Vampire was produced for the exhibition From the Ashes of the Burnout Machines ––at AMRO26, and is video work that deals with the ecosystemic devastation that happens when digital infrastructure is built. Christina Gruber follows since more than a decade the construction of the Google hyperscaler at Kronstorf and through several works thematized how the aquatic environments are impacted by the cloud.

https://stwst84x12.stwst.at/vaping_vampire

Aeolian Harp Data Center transforms the waste heat of computation into sound. Remo Stuflesser and Joak install several wind harps inside servus.at's data center at Stadtwerkstatt, letting the airflow from server cooling fans set the strings vibrating, turning the infrastructure's cooling exhaust into a live, self-generating performance. The piece streams continuously over net radio for the full 84 hours of STWST84x12, making audible what usually stays hidden: the physical, thermal cost of digital infrastructure running non-stop.
https://stwst84x12.stwst.at/aeolian_harp_data_center

Earthside Wish Machine turns a Cold War relic into a personal wishing well. Jiawen uffline repurposes meteor burst communication, a technology NATO once used for long-range radio via the ionized trails meteors leave burning through the atmosphere, into a location-specific protocol for transmitting wishes. Instead of copper or fiber, the network here runs on glowing, ionized air, instead of strategic signals, it carries wishes, relayed by the sky's cyclical meteor traffic. The piece doubles as a rehearsal for a future where our technological infrastructure actually responds to the Earth itself. Exhibited at bb15 during AMRO26, you can see it now re-contextualized within the STWST84 project FOR SUN RA ON SATURN.
https://stwst84x12.stwst.at/earthside_wish_machine

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DEMO: Learning from Kronstorf @STWST Haunted & Ars Electronica

Servus supports the Bürger:inneninitiative Rechenzentrum Kronstorf (https://koogle.at/) in their battle for calling for just, environmental respectful and democratic development of digital infrastructure. Sign the petition https://mein.aufstehn.at/petitions/stopp-der-einzelgenehmigungen-wir-fordern-eine-transparente-gesamtprufung-aller-risiken and join us at the DEMO during Ars Electronica 2026: “Negotiating humanity”

10.9: Demo Shields Making

Thu, 10. Sept, 16:00-20:00
@STWST Maindeck

To protest the current nightmare, alias Googlhupf Kronstorf, that’s taking away our sleep, we’re working on protest signs. In preparation for the demonstration “Learn from Kronstorf—For Transparent and Climate-Conscious Digitalization” the following day, we’re producing the necessary visual materials. Supplies like cardboard, paint, tape, wooden sticks, etc. are available, and we welcome ideas for expressing our concerns.

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11.9 Rally, Gathering and Discussion: Learning from Kronstorf

Fri, 11. Sept, 15:00 – 17:00
Speeches Landhaus & Ars Electronica at Main Square

Fri, 11. Sept, ab 17:00
Gathering and Networking STWST Maindeck

Learning from Kronstorf - fighting for transparent and climate-respectful digitalization

Amid the extreme heat, one question becomes pressing: What will shape our future? Will it be defined by the insatiable appetite for electricity of global private companies? Or will it include a right to shade and to cool, clear water—a right to the health of people and ecosystems?

In light of the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure, we must ask these questions now. The massive sealing of fertile soil—as is currently happening in Kronstorf, Upper Austria, where Google is building one of Europe’s largest data centers—is just the beginning.

To keep the data streams flowing, the asphalt needs to sizzle. We, on the other hand, are taking to the streets! We’re calling for a gathering in Linz on September 11! We demand an end to the destruction of our livelihoods! We refuse to accept the drying up of our landscapes as a given! True progress comes through listening, democratic participation, and collective skepticism toward the supposedly inevitable. Let's not allow ourselves to be convinced any longer that our future is determined by an algorithm and that there's nothing we can do about it!

Schedule / Timetable:

15:00 Meet-up at Landhaus
15:10 Rally: “Learn from Kronstorf!” Agenda: see speeches below
15:45 March to the main square
16:00-16:10 Input at “Flood the Zone with Courage,” Ars Electronica at the main square
16:45 Meeting point below the Trinity Column, march to the Stadtwerkstatt
17:00 End of rally, networking tables in front of the Stadtwerkstatt

Speeches:

Welcome by BI Kronstorf, Christina Gruber, Citizens’ Initiative Against the Kronstorf Data Center
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on Soil & Water - Dieter Wallentin, “da huat brennt”
Working Conditions, Exploitation - Lisa Aigelsberger, Südwind Upper Austria
Data Security - Werner Scholl, Guter Grund
Sustainable Digitalization - Davide Bevilacqua, Servus.at
A Different AI Is Possible. No Google in Kronstorf - Felix Stalder

Organizers and supporters
- Bürger:innen Initiative Rechenzentrum Kronstorf
- servus.at
- Stadtwerkstatt
- da huat brennt
- Solidarwerkstatt
- Klimaallianz OÖ
- Teachers For Future OÖ
- freies donaufeld
- Guter Grund
- Global2000
- teachers for future
- Lobau bleibt!
- Omas gegen Rechts OÖ
- mein # Aufstehn

→ https://stwst84x12.stwst.at/en/von_kronstorf_lernen

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12th September: Conversation&Tour on infrastructures under treath!

Conversation on Autistici / Inventati: Fascist attack independent infrastructure. Who’s next?

Sat, 12. Sept, 17:00
@STWST/Maindeck

On August 26, U.S. State Department designated the tech collective and radical hoster Autistici/Inventati as Specially Designated Global Terrorist, de-facto attacking an initiative that maintains infrastructure as political project grounded on communication freedom, solidarity and independence. This is only the beginning of a wider global campaign against independent infrastructures. In the frame of a collective conversation we want to tell the story of A/I, discuss what the recent news mean, and think what are the wider consequences and future scenarios for independent communication.

https://stwst84x12.stwst.at/attacks_on_autonomous_infrastructure

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Ghost-Busting Tour Through the Net-Haunted House

Sat, 12. Sept, 18:00
Meeting Point: STWST entrance

In this collective tour through the haunted network in the Stadtwerkstatt house we’ll look for ghosts of the past infrastructures – the spectre of media permeates every corners of the building. From haunted cables through the sacred wi-fi, discover the permanent exorcism against big tech that is happening in the esoteric servus.at server room.

https://stwst84x12.stwst.at/ghost-busting_tour_through_the_net-haunted_house

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Save the date: 5–8 May 2027, Libre Graphics Meeting in Linz

servus.at is involved in the organization of upcoming edition of Libre Graphics Meeting, which will be taking place May 5–8 in Linz, Austria.
To learn more about LGM visit LGM 2026. We are currently preparing the call for participation – stay tuned :)