Training: Datathons, hackathons and digital hacktivism (Paris)

The second training on digital hacktivism held by the UP team focused mainly on the interaction between Art and Science, and what each of them can learn from the other:

Technical literacy is at the root of artistic and scientific innovation. Playing with unconventional tools and software gives rise to radical projects and cutting-edge knowledge. This creative and transdisciplinary approach aims at connecting distant fields into participative, innovative and interactive projects.

This event engaged with the intersection between arts and science and considered data as an aesthetic object that needs to be looked at through a critical lens.

It consisted in a 2-part event (a seminar followed by a hands-on workshop) departing from the work of NSDOS, an interdisciplinary musician, dancer, and technologist. His work offered new tools to perceive and interact with the natural world, allowing artists to connect with technology, and offering scientists unconventional means to perceive data. The participants were introduced to ORCA – an esoteric programming language taking the shape of a 2D canvas designed to develop real-time interactive applications and used by NSDOS in his projects – and its application to control custom robotic hardware, both for artistic and scientific purposes.