Prize-giving Ceremony Coding da Vinci Schleswig-Holstein 2021

By Mara Sophie Meyer (Coding da Vinci)

The cultural hackathon Coding da Vinci Schleswig-Holstein 2021 ended on 11th June with a festive prize-giving ceremony. Some of the organisers were able to be on site in the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag (state parliament), together with the presentation team which consisted of Selina Seemann and Björn Högsdal and a representative of the five-member jury, Dr. Anette Froesch from the Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein (IB.SH), and could host the event in a hybrid way from there. The Offener Kanal Kiel broadcasted the event in its livestream Kiel TV

The afternoon opening by the heads of the Schleswig-Holstein Landesbibliothek (state library), Berit Johannsen and Dr. Martin Lätzel, was followed by words of welcome from the Landtagspräsident (president of the state parliament) Klaus Schlie, the Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education, Science and Culture Karin Prien and also Hortensia Völckers, artistic director and member of the board of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).

Landtagspräsident Klaus Schlie emphasised the importance of the hackathon for society: “The utilisation of our cultural holdings is an essential democratic act, for our cultural heritage belongs to all people. It is a crucial task of politics to accompany and support this process.”

In the run-up to the prize-giving ceremony, Minister Karin Prein was already certain about two winners: “Two winners are already clear to me: culture and the people who are able to enjoy new ideas of cultural education.”

11 presentations, 5 winning teams and 2 special prizes

Eleven teams presented their impressive projects, which can be discovered in detail  here. The project teams used open data from numerous data-providing institutions from Schleswig Holstein and Hamburg for their websites, games, apps, interactive installations and AI applications. In doing so, they worked together in an interdisciplinary way and complemented one another with their knowledge of design, programming and project management.

A five-member jury of experts decided afterwards which five projects should be given a prize. Various organisations and companies had provided prizes for this. The following five teams were selected by Dr. Anette Froesch (IB.SH, Kiel), Prof. Dr. Moreen Heine (Universität zu Lübeck), Prof. Frank Jacob (Muthesius Kunsthochschule – Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design), Prof. Dr. Rita Müller (Museum der Arbeit – Museum of Work, Hamburg) und Dr. Jörg Nickel (Staatskanzlei des Landes SH):

• The team Vogelkieker  (Birding Binoculars) received the prize for the “Best Design”: a tour through the Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf with an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes;
• The “Best Game” was won by the team Numisma  for their tour through the surviving Gropius buildings of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel);
• The team  Ephemeral was rewarded for the "Best Visualisation" with a participation in the Filmby Aarhus Game Screenings of the Waterkant-Festival;
• The project team Schaufel und Schweiß  (Shovel and Sweat) was given a prize for the "Best Multimedia Implementation" and can be pleased to receive the reproduction of a picture from the Landesgeschichtliche Sammlung (regional history collection) of the Schleswig-Holstein Landesbibliothek, according to the choice of each team member, including framing and a visit on site;
• A sailing city tour in and around Kiel, donated by Kiel-Marketing e.V., was won by the team  Historischer Kleiderschrank (Historical Wardrobe), which gained the prize of the public.

Moreover, two participants received special prizes for their outstanding achievements and their commitment: thus, one participant won a three-month paid work experience at Dataport and a further one a mentoring with experienced game developers from IFgameSH e.V. All other teams were rewarded for their great achievements with vouchers for the Mediendom and the Computer Museum of the Fachhochschule Kiel. It is now possible for all of the participants to apply for one of the  Coding da Vinci grants  which offer financial support to develop the prototypes further.

A further highlight, in addition to the project presentations and the prize-giving ceremony, was the keynote by Merete Sanderhoff, curator for digital museum practice at the Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark) in Copenhagen. The presentation is available here.

A look at the projects and prototypes implemented shows that Coding da Vinci Schleswig-Holstein 2021 was a resounding success and that all kinds of things are digitally possible with the cultural treasures of the north! The organisation team would like to thank all participants, the data-providing institutions, the whole event team and all supporters for a successful cultural hackathon Coding da Vinci Schleswig-Holstein 2021.

After Coding da Vinci Schleswig-Holstein is before Coding da Vinci Nieder.Rhein.Land

No sooner has the cultural hackathon in the north come to an end than the next Coding da Vinci really gets going. For those of you who wish to register or keep up to date on what is going on in Nieder.Rhein.Land, you can now register  here or follow Coding da Vinci Nieder.Rhein.Land on Twitter.