Open Call CODE 2022
Reclaiming Digital Agency! Apply before 20 March
How to influence politics to fight for our digital rights? How do we make sure politicians and policymakers are aware of what is at stake in the technology space? How can we regulate big tech companies, curb their power, and protect our digital rights? What role should governments play, and how can we make them understand the urgency to act? What can we as concerned citizens, researchers, and artists do to support this process?
CODE 2022 is the second edition of CODE, and it will be organized by IMPAKT together with School of Machines, Making & Make Believe (Berlin), and this year also by the two Belgium-based organizations Werktank (Leuven) and Privacy Salon/Privacytopia (Brussels/Antwerp).We are happy to invite participants to join us for an exciting collaborative series of events throughout 2022 called CODE.
CODE seeks to bring together artists, non-artists, politicians, policy makers and researchers from Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands to engage in dialogue, critical discussion, and artistic intervention. We hope to be able to influence public policy on a national and international level, by creating awareness for issues at hand, and by defining ways in which we can improve laws and legislation that will protect us as digital citizens and consumers. We want to inspire and facilitate cross-disciplinary collaborations, which hopefully have the potential to catalyse system change.
Selected participants will have the opportunity to work closely together in a co-creation process. The project also includes exchanges with several established Dutch, German, and Belgian artists and speakers that will provide inspiration and feedback. CODE consists of a series of digital events: two workshops, a symposium, a hackathon, various presentations at inspiring festivals, and an online exhibition. Next to online events, all spaces will also be able to host group meetings to collaborate in real life for the duration of the project. The events are spread over several months: from late March/early April till June, with presentations of the project’s outcome expected in September. As a participant, we invite you to be actively engaged in all these events, which are aimed at bringing to light the most pressing issues we face in digital culture and public policy. The exact dates of the events and steps in the process are subject to change, but please have a look at them below, and consider the fact that we are looking for people that can participate in all events for the duration of the CODE programme.
Group artworks will be conceived over the three-month period from April to June. During this period, there will be one weekend with a social hackathon where you will have the opportunity to discuss and receive feedback from policy makers and established artists. The final works created throughout the events will be exhibited in an online gallery space meant to engage continuous critical discussion into 2022. We will also allow participants to present the produced works and concepts in the public realm to stir debate and foster change.
Are you worried about the power of big tech companies? Would you like more transparency in the way your data is used? Do you think our governments should know more about our digital society and protect our rights better? Are you an artist, activist or simply a concerned citizen? Then we hope you will join us in CODE 2022!
Participants will be selected mainly based on their motivation. In making the selection, we also aim for a diverse group in terms of expertise and backgrounds. Everyone is welcome to apply, and no prior experience is required. There is a small stipend for the groups that produce a work for the online showcase, and participation is free of charge.
Apply before 20 March
Who are we looking for?
- Applications are open to professional and non-professional artists, researchers, policy makers and concerned citizens.
- Participants should be living in the regions of Germany, Belgium and/or the Netherlands.
- People with an interest in learning from and collaborating with professional artists to create artistic interventions to influence policy makers
- Women, POC, LGBTQ+ are encouraged to apply
- No prior experience is required.
- If not sure, just apply!
Application Deadline
Please apply by 20 March.
We will select a group of participants from all participating countries who will be invited to join the programme.
Language: English
Schedule of events
- 21 February: Open call opened.
- 20 March: Open call closed.
- End March: Selection announcement.
- Late March/Early April: Introduction of the programme and meeting the group.
- Early April: 1st workshop.
- Early April: Symposium CODE 2022 (Open to public).
- Early/Mid May: Hackathon.
- 23-25 May: Process presentation of projects at the Computer, Privacy and Data Protection conference (CPDP), organised by Privacy Salon.
- Early June: Workshop II with feedback.
- 1 July: Deadline for works/projects.
- September 2022 through 2022: Presentation of works, documentation and online exhibition.
Exact dates subject to change.
About the organisers
IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture]
IMPAKT is a media arts organisation based in Utrecht and founded in 1988. We present critical and creative views on contemporary media culture and arts, in an interdisciplinary context. Our aim is to identify urgent issues in our digital and transglobal culture, by focusing on the relationship between society, media, technology and arts. We examine issues around politics, science and popular culture from different angles. We aim to present creative and innovative approaches and stir debates with critical ideas on common beliefs in society at large as well as towards dominant perceptions in arts and academia.
School of Machines, Making & Make Believe
School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe is a uniquely curated School born in Berlin, Germany in 2014, keen on inventing one-of-a-kind hands-on learning experiences in the areas of art, technology, design, and human connection. Our philosophy is centred around the idea that we are all lifelong learners. We would love for our students to leave our programs activated; not only equipped with technical and hands-on tools and skill sets, but also critically-minded, more deeply engaged with their surroundings and with themselves.
Artists, designers, technologists, makers, researchers and the like come to us to explore new topics, develop and expand their practice, and wrestle out the courage to begin something new. We support them in these endeavours while encouraging curiosity, confidence, and the enthusiasm to say something with their work.
Privacy Salon/Privacytopia
How does data usage affect you, everyone and everything? What does it take from us and what do we get back? With a great variety of artistic and awareness projects (exhibitions, performances, lectures, …) the Privacytopia festival, organised by Privacy Salon, puts in the spotlight the wide range of themes linked to privacy and data usage. The festival is due to launch in 2023. The cultural powerhouse De Studio in Antwerp will be the central location of the festival. In 2022 Privacytopia is resident at this venue, regularly presenting micro lectures, screenings and exhibitions as a warming-up.
Werktank
Werktank is a media arts producer and distributor which operates at the intersection of art, science and technology. Werktank embraces new media, fuses it with artisanal techniques and critically questions the impact of (new) technologies. Werktank offers a professional context and financial support for artists and guides them to the next phase in their artistic practice.
If you have any questions regarding this open call, please write us a message at timo@impakt.nl
To read more about last year’s CODE NL-D Programme, click here: https://impakt.nl/nl/code_nl-d/
To see the web-project exhibiting the results of CODE NL-D 2021, click here: https://code.impakt.nl/
CODE 2022 is realised thanks to the kind support of Fonds Soziokultur, Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie, Nederlandse Ambassade in België (Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) and Goethe Institut.