Manifesta 12 Accountable Networks Hackathon
With a 18 hours-long working session, from 20.00, Saturday 29 September to 14.00, Sunday 30 September, at Teatro Garibaldi di Palermo
In the framework of Accountable Networks, second chapter in the biennial’s public programming, Manifesta 12 opens its door to young coders, students, thinkers and plotters from Palermo and beyond, called to imagine projects that could improve socio-political practices of participation and individual/collective accountability in the city of today and tomorrow.
Coming to complete and expand the programme of Accountable Networks, the Hackathon** is an open zone for thinking, experimenting and building upon the transformative potential of new technologies on urban living as well as on civic activism. Participants are called to think and start implementing hacks, tools and propositions able to redesign our capacity of action and awareness as inhabitants of a specific urban landscape, but also as agents in a much wider global digital network of connections and exchanges.
The goals of the Hackathon might range from providing tool-kits of digital self-defense to instruments of cooperation and participation. Central to Hackathon will be the notions of citizenship and rights in the age of planetary computation.
Information for participants:
- Participation is limited to 25 people, over 16 years of age, from Palermo, Italy and abroad. Both individuals and small groups – from 2 to 5 people max. – are invited to apply. Individual participants will be composed into new groups, while existing groups could decide to expand their team by collaborating with individual participants met during the event. Please note that no travel and accommodation expenses will be covered.
- Participants are invited to bring over their own laptop and any other technical instrument they would believe of use during the working session. Stationary and other creative tools will be provided.
- Participants will be provided with working stations at Manifesta 12 central hub, Teatro Garibaldi, as well as drinks and some nibbles to get through the night and day (offered by Fud)
- Participants to the Hackathon are invited to take part in the programme of activities and talks planned for the three days of Accountable Networks, in order to take inspiration from the ongoing conversations and getting to know each other before starting working together.
Structure of the Hackathon:
Friday 28 September:
Participants and organisers meet up for the first time in the afternoon of Friday 28 September. This first meeting will provide an introduction to the ambitions of Accountable Networks and the Hackathon planned within it. During the first meet up, participants will receive as a gift one free Manifesta 12 season pass each, a Manifesta 12 guidebook and dedicated gadgets.
Saturday 29 September:
_Morning and afternoon of Saturday will be dedicated to Accountable Networks programme; Hackathon’s participants are invited to take part to the sessions as active audience
_At 19.00 participants and organisers meet for a finalisation session, during which working topics will be defined and individual participants will be arranged into groups
_At 20.00 the working session will start
Sunday 30 September:
_At 14.00 the organisers will call the end of the working session
_At 16.00 it will start a session of presentation of the projects, open to the public. The pitch moment will be followed by a public discussion about each project. As part of the responding audience, Manifesta 12 invites personalities from Palermo’s tech and association world
A more detailed description of the hackathon’s working session structure will be shared with selected participants closer to the date
How to participate:
Send the filled-out registration form (available here for single participants and here for groups) until 26 September, including basic information about yourself and your motivation in participating to the Manifesta 12 Accountable Networks Hackathon, to the following email address: hackathon@manifesta.org
Participants will be selected upon review of the motivation statement by Manifesta 12 team.
**What a hackathon is, what a hackathon is for Manifesta:
A hackathon is a social coding event, in which individuals (computer programmers, designers, subject-matter-experts, all around interested people) work together in order to give form to innovative ideas, while exploring specific areas of knowledge and action.
In organising its first very own Hackathon, Manifesta 12 enters a scenario normally unusual for a biennial, while forcing a little the traditional structure of an event normally dedicated to professionals and highly trained people. The participatory and purpose-driven approach of this kind of events will make it the ideal counterpart of a more theoretical programme that thinks and reimagines citizenship and political impact of subjects and groups through the use of new (digital/computational) technology.
Manifesta 12 Accountable Networks Hackathon is designed and facilitated by Marco Berni.
Marco Berni works as consultant and design strategist for social and open innovation in public/private organisations. He is co-founder of CodesignToscana, cultural association, and part of CivicWise, international and distributed network of civic innovators.
In collaboration with:
