Open Call Hackers & Designers Summer Camp '24 - Unruly Currents & Everyday Piracy 01_May_24

H&D is open for proposals for a variety of activities that contribute to an exhilarating communal experience! We are looking for various hands-on workshops that explore alternative (sustainable, non-extractivist, equitable) technical and social imaginaries. Shorter activities are also welcome such as presentations, film screenings, gameplays, dance nights, guided walks, fireplace readings, foraging, publishing activities, gymnastics, and the likes.

The call welcomes 'everyday pirates' (hackers / designers / makers / artists / developers / activists / inventors /...) of all ages, skills, abilities and backgrounds to propose activities. H&D is collaborating with the educational department of MU Hybrid Art House to develop a dedicated parallel track for and with children and young adults between the ages of 6 and 12. We therefore welcome kids to the camp and encourage submissions that are inclusive to younger participants and/or proposals for inter-generational formats. We aim for an equal balance within the program with regards to accommodating different ages, abilities and experiences.

Proposals for hands-on activities should (loosely) relate to the topic of 'Unruly Currents & Everyday Piracy', and can be connected to participants' own practices and skills. H&D will take care of the selection process with a focus on creating a diverse program that caters to hands-on learning, technical explorations as well as play, experimentation and exchange. We would also love to see suggestions for activities from/with the younger campers that want to join.

The summer camp will also be open for visitors on the weekend with music, performances, showcases of works-in-progress, cooking, eating and storytelling.

Theme: Unruly Currents & Everyday Piracy

This year's theme invites to reflect on and actively reject predominant principles of our contemporary socio-technical reality such as "ownership", "property", "newness" and "innovation."

Together we will explore what it means not to do new things and not to make new stuff and instead explore what is already there through methods of repair, reuse, regeneration, maintenance, continuation, invitation and documentation.

As an inspiration we will take the social and political attitude of 'piracy'. We would like to explore the inter-generational imaginaries around piracy – as a verb – a practice that can be situated in p2p solidarity networks, autonomous squats, anti-capitalist climate care protests, autonomous tech cooperatives or spontaneous illegal raves. Defiant as punks, resilient and inventive as hacktivists and tricksters, everyday piracy will orient us in navigating against the tide of the mainstream and subvert dominant digital and political paradigms.

The leading questions will be: How can we imagine piracy as a opportunistic and simultaneously generous practice, that prompts us to activate and nurture a culture of co-ownership, co-authorship, mutual respect and accountability? How can doing so help us restore and increase the energetic potential of the communities (human and non-human) and environments we are connected to?

H&D proposes to engage in processes of reclaiming, reusing, redistributing, copying, studying and changing, thus learning from and with technical objects, all the while reflecting on their origins.

"Acting is not that different from thinking, because one has to situate the action. The meaning of action is relative to your position, and if your position is as a number, a percentage looking vaguely for a job, a pawn in the great funereal game of the totalitarian marketplace, it’s in your interest to act like a pirate. From this arises an everyday piracy, one which can be easily shared. We’d have to make a list of microgestures capable of interrupting the signal, of creating a local disruption of the network, of piercing the dominant ideology so that it spills out through its foundations. What happens next, we’ll see. We’ll invent it collectively". Nous Sommes Partout, Everyday Piracy

Criteria and selection of proposals

To participate in the HDSC2024, you apply with a proposal for a workshop or other activity, which addresses subjects of dis-appropriation, to take (back) from others, to critically challenge artificial social and technical boundaries between legality and illegality, ownership and authorship. The BYOW (bring your own workshop) format is an attempt to decentralize curation and organization of the workshop program.

• We strongly encourage submissions that consider younger age groups and aim at an equal balance within the program with regards to accommodating different ages and experiences
• The selection process will be two-fold. We will first review the workshop proposals and then look at requirements regarding accommodation.
• There is a limited amount of spaces for participation available that relate to the amount and types of accommodation. The more information you share about your preferences, the easier we can try to accommodate your wishes.
• If we get more submissions than accommodations available we might need to make a selection.

Please submit your form here by May 1st latest . You will receive a confirmation of reception on May 3rd. We will aim for May 15th to announce the final outcome.

Upon selection we will share the workshop proposals with the everyone who will be joining this year's summer camp so we can engage in an (informal) peer review process leading up to the Summer Camp, support each other in developing the proposed activities and starting to get to know each other. For those who wish to tailor their activity to a younger audience or an inter-generational exchange, the educational department of MU Hybrid Art House will be part of the development process to give advice on how to approach an audience that might be relatively new to you.

See also: https://www.mu.nl/en/play-and-learn/about and their workshop catalog on De Creatieve Code https://decreatievecode.nl/

You will have time to finalize your workshop by June 15th. That is when we will add the final workshop outlines to the H&D website so that participants can choose which workshops they want to join.

About the communal site

The campsite Het Wilde Weg is located in Sint-Oedenrode in the Dutch countryside in the middle of the nature reserve Het Groene Woud. In the heart of a luscious ecosystem, we will be able to swim if we get warm, get shade if we need to, get together around the campfire, bbq, jump on the trampoline and watch the stars and the moon with no light pollution! There are communal indoor spaces to host our activities and a projector available for presentations. There is electricity to feed our electronic devices! Two sinks for dishes with hot water, and a communal bathroom with 2 showers. We will share food and self-organize all camp duties altogether as a community. Chickens and cats will be around but other pets have to stay home ;-( There is also a lot of space to withdraw, go on walks and have some private time.

https://www.hetwildeweg.nl/

Costs

We can organize the camp and offer accommodation for a reduced price thanks to the support of Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie. In total we are able to cover 5000,00 for the accommodation through funding. We will need to raise additional 7500,00 through participant contributions to cover the costs of renting and maintaining the campsite for the full duration of the HDSC. Aiming for a group of 25 this amounts to 300,00 per participant. We came up with different contribution scales and hope this way folks with different income situations can be accommodated. If you work for an employer who would be able to cover your accommodation costs we would appreciate the contribution.

Contribution scales: €150, €225, €300, €375, €450, bursary

Included

Daily dinner we cook together, coffee/tea/water and snacks, costs for workshop materials, showers, as well a camping spot.

Not included

Bed linen, bath towels and kitchen towels, so please pack your own :) At an additional fee of €15,00 the camp site can provide these for you. Travel costs will need to be covered by participants themselves. We will organize a pick up from Boxtel station or the local bus stop.

Accommodation

There are various accomodations available with different levels of comfort. There is the possibility to bring a tent, and there are a few huts, campers, yurts and cabins available on site. Please note: if you bring your own tent, you will have your own space, all the other accommodation types are shared with 1 or more people. You are asked to indicate your preferences in the application form. If you are planning to join with friend(s), kid(s) or partner(s) and wish to share with them, you can also indicate this in the form.

Bringing guests

We invite folks to bring their kin, young or old, to propose and lead activities! Please indicate in the sign up form if you intend to bring someone and how long they stay and if they will be actively participating in the program. Guests need to bring their own linen and towels. If your guests come for the entire duration we handle the same price as for participants. If your guest comes for only a few days we suggest a contribution of €30 per day (includes staying in a tent, dinner, fantastic and cosy evening activities and socializing) Kids join for free!

Sign up form

APPLY HERE! , deadline for submissions: May 1 2024