What’s the Demoscene?
It’s about demonstrating talent and skills of coders and capabilities of computing machinery. Demosceners produce Demos, digital audio-visual works rendered real-time by computer programs. Sceners strive for entering their programmed productions in a competition – a Compo – at a Demoparty. Self-limitation fuels creativity: Contributed programs compete in categories, with e.g. file size limits (size coding), hardware restrictions or historic computers (Commodore C64, Amiga, Atari ST, etc.).
Where can I experience this?
Demos are released live at these events, where they are celebrated and voted on by all visitors. The Demoscene is an internationally active digital subculture, rooted in the home computer revolution in the 1980s but vibrant to this day. Sceners are strongly attached to their Demoscene, there is a tremendous amount of identity, history, emotion, and community. No wonder it is recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage of mankind in Finland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland! This was achieved by the international collaborative initiative The Art of Coding, which is presented at cyberevolution by the Swiss Demoscene association Echtzeit – Digitale Kultur.
Stop talking, show me the Demos!
Demos are very hard to describe verbally, they are an audio-visual experience and are best enjoyed live at a Demoparty. But you can watch video recordings of some famous Demos at cyberevolution at the Demoscene exhibition display in the hall next to the coffee bike. Three Demosceners will be around – look for Dr. André ‘kudrix’ Kudra, Mario ‘psykon’ Spuler and Frank ‘netpoet’ Stiegler – to answer questions you might have. Expect to be invited to a Demoparty! They will also be giving a brief Demoscene intro in a session and bring us up to speed on The Art of Coding.
