JenniCam@30: Thirty years of live streaming cultures
April 14
April 14th, 2026, will mark 30 years since Jennifer Ringley, then a college student, mounted a digital camera on top of her computer in her dorm room and began streaming online. Ringley’s webcam, known as JenniCam, transmitted nearly uninterrupted for seven years, becoming the most enduring webcam performance of the early Internet. Despite not being recognized as a pioneer during her time, Jennifer Ringley made Internet history by pioneering live self-streaming.
Thirty years later, we will commemorate JenniCam’s anniversary with a day-long event about and through live streaming practices.
Program:
JenniCam in Context
⏱️ 10:30 AM
📍 4TH SPACE
Keynote lecture by Susanna Paasonen (online), plus an in-situ conversation.
Presentations and in-situ conversations at Speculative Life Cluster
⏱️ 1 PM
📍 Speculative Life Cluster (EV 10.625)
A pop-up live TV studio transmission hosted in collaboration with the Institute of Network Cultures.
Presentations and in-situ conversations include: Tommaso Campagna on live streaming as a form of publishing (TheVoid.TV); Geert Lovink on the lives of the online self (online); Seska Lee on camming and the construction of liveness; Lotte de Jong on webcam and art (online). There will also be interventions on moderation and monetization strategies, as well as live and not-so-live performances of live coding, object theatre, and music.
Snacks and beverages will be provided at both locations.
🌐 Further details and online transmissions at: Jennicam-at-30.com