#cdvbw22: More than 20 project ideas after the kick-off at the ZKM Karlsruhe
By Maximilian Westphal
After cultural institutions from Baden-Württemberg were last involved in Coding da Vinci Süd in 2019 , the time had finally come on 7 May: Coding da Vinci 2022 was "in the Länd" with the kick-off event at the ZKM Karlsruhe. Especially because after the online-only events caused by the pandemic, a face-to-face hackathon could finally take place again. More than 150 participants and over 50 representatives of the 34 data-providing cultural institutions gathered on Saturday morning in the Media Theatre of the ZKM Karlsruhe.
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One-minute madness from Trojan ceramics to bile
The event opened with a welcome by the moderator and game developer Kathrin Radtke and a welcoming speech by Petra Olschowski, State Secretary in the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg. According to the organisers and founders, it was straight into One-Minute-Madness: 34 data sets ignited an inspiring firework of ideas: 3D scans of garden gnomes, pictures of sculptures, X-ray images of valuable works of art, historical leaflets, assembly instructions for technical models, theatre puppets, Japanese cross-scrolls, historical images of a city, playbills, diary pages from a trip to Africa or oral history audio files.
Afterwards, the participants went to the work areas on the balconies of the ZKM, where they could pepper the data providers with their questions. Interested parties who were not present on site joined via Discord and later even pitched via YouTube video. For the idea pitch, 17 ideas were presented on stage, captured in Graphic Recording by Marcus Frey.
Thinking continued overnight: At the start of the second day, more participants took to the stage for idea pitches, so that by the end, more than 20 project ideas had been recorded in the Etherpad and many of them have already been entered on the Hackdash.
Inspiring atmosphere and spring mood
The participants were fed during the development of ideas: on the one hand with the lunches and pizza parties made possible by the sponsors, and on the other hand with various input sessions on the topics of game design, GND, text recognition or scaling of open source platforms. On the forecourt of the ZKM there were not only sun loungers to relax in the sun, but also a yoga session in the countryside. Past Coding da Vinci scholarship projects were also presented and the doors to the "BioMedien" exhibition at the ZKM were open to all those present.
During the live coding performances on Saturday evening, many people became acquainted with a previously unknown art form: live coding is an artistic practice and creative technique in which computer programs are written in real time and on stage. Visitors can virtually look over the shoulder of the performers during the spontaneous production of sound and image while experiencing an audiovisual concert programme. Elina Lukijanova even used the Coding da Vinci data set "Hidden behind the quill - female writers of the 19th century" of the Heinrich-Heine-Instituts der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf (Heinrich-Heine-Institute of the state capital Düsseldorf) for her performance.
Off into the sprint phase
From one-minute madness to project presentation, the event was broadcast live - Saturday and Sunday recordings can still be viewed, including selected input sessions, live coding sessions and numerous backstage interviews with participants. At the end of the second day, the participants impressed with project presentations that promise a wide variety of media uses for cultural data, from VR applications and Jump'n'Run games to data mapping and network visualisation to a card game. The insights into the projects of the Jugend-Kulturhackathons (Youth Culture Hackathon) Hack to the Future, which is being organised together with Coding da Vinci for the first time, were also impressive.
With the end of the kick-off, the seven-week sprint phase begins. Many project teams are still looking for support in a wide variety of areas. Furthermore, new project ideas can be added, the data providers remain accessible via the Discord Channel and weekly meetings in gather.town! If you would like to join us now, please feel free to contact codingdavinci [at] mfg.de (Sylvia Petrovic-Majer by) e-mail. An overview of the current project ideas can be found on the hackdash, the data sets can be found here.
Livestream kick-off events on Saturday and on Sunday can be watched on YouTube.
Award ceremony on 24 June in Stuttgart
On June 24, 2022, the results will be presented by the project teams at the award ceremony from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Landesmuseum Württemberg in Stuttgart (Württemberg State Museum) . An expert jury will select and award the best projects in various tracks and categories. You can now secure your place at the final event of Coding da Vinci Baden-Württemberg.
