CODE Programme 2022

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 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.

Each edition starts with a call for applicants. Selected participants will have the opportunity to work closely together in a co-creation process of three months consisting of a series of digital events: two workshops, a public symposium, a hackathon, various presentations at inspiring festivals, and an online exhibition. The events are spread over several months: from late March/early April till June, with presentations of the project’s outcome expected in September.

During this period, together we develop interventions and awareness campaigns to expose the power of tech companies and to activate politicians, policymakers and citizens to take action.

CODE 2022 is the second edition of CODE, and it organised by IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] together with School of Machines, Making & Make Believe (Berlin), Werktank (Leuven) and Privacy Salon/Privacytopia (Brussels/Antwerp). 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.

Explore our CODE Events:

Open call for participants (closed)

The Open call is closed. But if you want to read more:

Open Call CODE 2022

CODE 2022 participants announced

In February 2022 we launched the second CODE open call for participants, i.c.w. School of Machines, Making & Make Believe, Werktank and Privacy Salon/Privacytopia. The open call was open to anyone from Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands who shared our concern about digital rights and the power of big tech companies. We are happy to announce the 22 selected participants for the CODE 2022 programme. Together we will engage in dialogue, critical discussion, and artistic intervention to raise awareness about our digital rights.

We received over 80 applications from artists, researchers and concerned citizens. The participants were selected on the basis of their motivation. The aim of the CODE 2022 programme is to influence public policy on a national and international level, by creating awareness and by defining ways in which we can improve laws and legislation that will protect us as digital citizens and consumers.

Click here to find out who this years participants are

Introduction + Workshop 1 - 8 & 9 April

During the first weekend, the participants got the chance to meet each other. They also had the first workshop where they could start discussing their ideas and concerns about digital agency, and what kind of project they would like to work on.

The first day was a day of introductions, who are the participants? What are their backgrounds? What do they want to work on? How can they contribute?

The second day was a workshop where our mentors, Rosa Menkman (NL), Regine Debatty (FR) & Effi & Amir (IL), talked to our participants about how they can turn their concerns and ideas into a concrete project.

Hackathon - 6, 7 & 8 May

During the hackathon, the participants got together in the various physical spaces, and were connected to the other physical spaces and some participants joining from home through a hybrid video conferencing setup. They were asked to form groups of people of various backgrounds, interested in working on the same topic. They talked amongst each other in breakout rooms, to share and pitch ideas. On the second day, the mentors helped them concretise their ideas, and gave feedback on what they though could be improved.

CPDP - 23, 24 & 25 May

At the Computer Privacy & Data Protection Conference in Brussels (BE), CODE had a booth set up where the participants could speak with various people interested in the project. There was also a round-table discussion with the participants, mentors, and interested guests, in which the relationship between art and politics was discussed. The participants shared their ideas about how art can be used to raise awareness with politicians, and how it can be used to influence policy.

Workshop 2 - 9 June

During this second workshop, the participants worked on their projects further to concretise them, and come to some sort of a first minimum viable product, or a prototype of their project. During this workshop, the mentors also gave their feedback on the more concrete projects, which helped the participants improve their projects and make some key last minute changes.

CODE Public Event - 1 July

During this public event, we are hosting a panel with experts, artists, and politicians, and we are giving our participants the opportunity to ask critical questions to the involved politicians. For the panel, we have confirmed the following speakers, and more will be announced soon:

Geert Lovink: He recently published: Stuck on the Platform.

Benjamin Gaulon.

After the panel, Geert Lovink will officially launch his most recent book publication as a part of this event.

Residencies & workshops