Organic & Mechanic: ETHBerlinZwei’s Cultural concept explained

DoD’s mission goes further than technology and tries to capture the culture behind the decentralized space and beyond. ETHBerlin, our flagship event, started as a hackathon but is becoming a culture festival. The 2019 edition will push this effort even further as we believe that art and culture inspire innovation and allow for creativity to flourish.

In previous editions, the culture room was heavily inspired by Berlin and the city’s appearance and ethos, considering things such as its wilderness, its closeness to nature and its relentless search for individuality. It simply arose from it being the first hackathon in our home city — we wanted to present the city that influences all of what DoD does.

Blockchain technology is something which can be perceived as highly inorganic and almost inaccessible, due to its technical and abstract nature. But blockchains don’t need to be trapped in the inorganic and abstract realms. They can interact with the world in more biological, organic ways.

Through the combination of technical and organic elements, natural systems are being replicated in virtual environments, and with this, the real and unreal are merging, the question about “what is fiction” arises.

But — does fiction even matter and if so, should it be considered at all?

Combining these two very specific approaches, the organic principles and the highly mechanized systems, we’re exploring how these two have influenced art and vice versa, how art has influenced them.

Is there a correlation between the two and how can one or the other be used to support development and creativity to extend its possibilities? How can we draw direct correlations between the technological systems that we are working with and the historical and natural design of organic principals?

What ETHBerlin’s culture room is looking for:

We are looking for different kinds of mediums, and at its core, the art piece or project should be tied to ETHBerlinZwei’s cultural concept. Additionally, we highly encourage artists to introduce pieces that might be directly relying on Blockchain technology to excite the audience. However, we are equally interested in art pieces or projects which are inspired by the culture, the themes, and the technology behind it.

The application deadline is June 30th, 2019, at midnight (CEST). If you’re interested in applying, we kindly ask you to respect this and make sure to send in the application before the official deadline. We will not be able to guarantee that we will accept an application if it is submitted after the deadline.

For more information and for sending in an application, please visit the application form here.