Pixelache Helsinki 2014

It’s probably too late for most of us to attend, but this Friday through Sunday, June 6-8,Pixelache Helsinki 2014 will host an international two-day trans-disciplinary event on “The Commons.”

Apart from keynote lectures planned in advance, the agenda of activities of activities at Camp Pixelache – especially the participatory workshops – will be an “unconference” — i.e., determined by the attendees themselves at the beginning of the event. Attendance is free of charge.

The event will be held on Vartiosaari, a nature island surrounded by eastern suburbs of Helsinki.  The organizers note that the island “is currently under-threat of full-scale residential development by Helsinki City Planning Department, and there is a grassroots campaign to protect its particular qualities, in which artists & cultural practitioners are involved. We are hoping that the occasion of Camp Pixelache can also provide a discussion forum around Helsinki-Commons issues.”

First of all, I love the logo for Camp Pixcelache (see below).  Striking!

Pixelache organizers have suggested a few sub-themes for the event:

Open-Sourcing Festivals.  How does an organization open-source their cultural festival? Can we share the process for organizing a festival, so that other groups can use it themselves? How do organizations support activities and events throughout the year? Can we share the process for sustaining ongoing programs, so that other groups can do this too? (The theme is raised in the context of the EU Grundtvig [lifelong learning) project, “Open Learning Steps & Open-sourcing Festivals.”

The Bio-Commons as a theme to explore how universal access and protection of “natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth” is jeopardized.  This sub-theme, pursued in collaboration with Finnish Society of Bioart, will explore the biohacking scene as well as the DIY Biology movement, and how both are trying to keep biology and biotechnology in the commons.

Helsinki-Commons will explore the idea of commons and urban space and organizational design, in collaboration with the Aalto co-p2p SIG, Open cities working group (Open Knowledge Foundation Finland) and Pixelache.

I encourage anyone who attends this weekend to check in with a report on Pixelache.

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