Code 2023: Reclaiming Digital Agency
CODE is a project initiated in response to the growing concern that we are losing agency over the digital tools and platforms we use on a daily basis. Organised by IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] (Utrecht) together with Werktank (Leuven), Privacy Salon/Privacytopia (Brussels) and Transmediale (Berlin), CODE brings together artists, non-artists, politicians, policy makers and researchers from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands to engage in dialogue, critical discussion, and artistic intervention. The aim is to influence public policy at national and international level, by creating awareness and defining ways in which we can improve laws and legislation to protect us as digital citizens and consumers. In 2023, CODE received over 100 applications, on the basis of which 28 participants have been selected to closely work together in a co-creation process. At PublicSpaces, you will get a taste of some of the projects that CODE has delivered so far.

Turning Tables

Turning Tables is a new card game that turns Big Tech into Fair Tech. It’s fun to play, and along the way you’ll turn the tables on Big Tech power and pick up inspiring ideas from critical thinkers. The Turning Tables deck is an alternative to traditional decks that reflect medieval power structures. In some important ways our world is not so different from the Middle Ages: instead of the kings, queens and clans, we now have got big tech companies and their CEOs reigning supreme. Turning Tables invites you to engage this world in a critical way. The deck follows most of the structure of a traditional card deck, but it has some special additional features. For instance, there are 12 Good Jokers: authors, activists and creative thinkers who inspire us to use technology in a positive way, so we can reclaim our digital rights. Once the tables are turned, a worker in an Amazon distribution centre can beat Jeff Bezos, for instance. Come play the game where the users have more power than Apple and Google, and Big Tech turns into Fair Tech!
 

Making the Invisible Visible
Online we are asked to share private data on a daily basis. How do we decide in our lives what is acceptable, and what should be avoided? How can we raise awareness about data security, and question and challenge what is shareable and what is private? Making the Invisible Visible is an evocative intervention that brings the reality of our digital footprint into our physical dimension. The project demystifies the abstraction of our online presence by relating it to our everyday interpersonal encounters, exploring the boundary between the acceptable and the undesirable. 
 

Making the Invisible Visible is a project initiated from CODE, a collaborative programme between IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] and School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe. CODE seeks to bring together artists, non-artists, politicians, policy makers and researchers from Germany and the Netherlands to engage in dialogue, critical discussion and artistic intervention regarding our digital agency.