Digital strategist Ela Kagel specialises in the intersection of society, technology and economy. Since the 1990s she has produced media art exhibitions, designed spaces for cultural exchange and helped establish digital platforms, networks and communities . She is a long-time collaborator and researcher at the Public Art Lab in Berlin. From 2009 to 2011 she was program curator for the Transmediale Festival for Art and Digital Culture in Berlin. While at Transmediale Ela developed the Free Culture Incubator, a series of workshops and events based on free and open culture. Central to Ela’s practice is supporting bottom-up initiatives deeply rooted in particular communities of practice. From this perspective, she also established and curated Upgrade! Berlin, as well as a number of commons-related research projects. In 2010 Ela co-founded SUPERMARKT Berlin, an independent hub for digital culture and collaborative economy. Ela is co-initiator of the #Platformcoop Berlin meetups and board member of Platform Cooperatives Germany eG.
With a deep interest in organizational design and cooperative digital economies, Ela loves to dance by DisCO beats. She also penned the introduction to the DisCO Elements.
Watch Ela, along with Mickey Metts from Agaric.coop and DisCONaut Stacco Troncoso talk about Platform Coops, digital rights, DisCOs and so much more in this episode of the Laura Flanders Show.