Yesterday was the opening night of Hack Århus, the new hacker space in the city of Århus. A lot of people came despite the snow storm and we had fun with some talks, hack-presentations and circuit bending. I gave a short speech about the roots of hacker ethics and the background of hackerspaces, with examples from Italy, Germany and California.

There were some people from Labitat, the hackerspace in Copenhagen, who shared their experience with us, and some projects presentations followed – like the very interesting one about the coding-wooden-sculpture machine from Jacob Pedersen, who is one of the initiators of the Hackerspace.

Some more info about Hack Aarhus:

Hack Århus is an informal meeting place for everyone interested in the creative use of technology in the broadest sense. Hack Århus is trying to build an open space where people of diverse backgrounds come together to share resources and knowledge to build things, create digital art or hack in general.

The kick-off event introduced the Hack Århus hackerspace as well as the ideas and projects behind it to everyone interested: a couple short talks and a hands-on workshop afterward.

With guests from the Labitat, the hackerspace in Copenhagen, as well as from Aarhus University.

Program:

• 17.00 – 17.20 :: What the Hack? – A Short Trip into the Roots of Hackerspaces and Hacker Ethics
• 17.20 – 17.40 :: Labitat – Experiences from a Hackerspace in Copenhagen
• 17.40 – 17.50 :: Hack Århus – State of Affairs
• 17.50 – 18.00 :: short break
• 18.00 – 18.15 :: Projects I – A CNC Machine for Every Home
• 18.15 – 18.30 :: Projects II – Arduino for Fun and Profit
• 18.30 – 19.00 :: Workshop – Circuit bending (bring fun stuff!)

More info at: http://www.hackaarhus.dk/

The meeting with Jake Appelbaum was a very nice opportunity of gathering students, researchers and interesting ‘geeks’. The discussion was quite alive and based on sharing of experience and knowledge about hacking, technology and development of hacker communities. We reflected on the technological and political meaning of hacking, on gender issues related to the creation of hackerspaces, and Jake inspired us through his experience within NoiseBridge, the hackerspace in San Francisco which he contributed to found, and through an interesting overview of the hacker scene in the Bay area. This meeting was also an occasion to compare different strategies and visions of hacking between Europe and USA.

Among the public were people from Computer Science and IMV at Aarhus University, Hack-Aarhus, the recently founded hackerspace in Aarhus and Labitat, the new hackerspace in Copenhagen. With the hope of having many other interesting occasions of sharing knowledge about interdisciplinary subjects (and people!), I suggest the readers to get involved in the discussion following the Hack-Aarhus mailing-list: http://groups.google.com/group/hack-arhus

Here are some photos of the event.

Jacob Appelbaum lives in San Francisco and is an independent computer security hacker currently employed by the Tor Project.. He is the executive director and a founder of the hackerspace Noisebridge in San Francisco (www.noisebridge.net).

NoiseBridge is a space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentoring, and learning. Noisebridge is also more than a physical space, it’s a community with roots extending around the world. The hackerspace provides infrastructure and collaboration opportunities for people interested in programming, hardware hacking, physics, chemistry, mathematics, photography, security, robotics, all kinds of art, and, of course, technology. Through talks, workshops, and projects, it encourages knowledge exchange, learning, and mentoring. As a space for artistic collaboration and experimentation, is open to all types of art – with a special emphasis on the crossover of art and technology. From hardware labs to electronics, cooking, photography, and sound labs, anything that’s creative is welcome.

The tor project is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

The meeting with Jacob Appelbaum is organized by the Digital Aesthetics Research Centre. Presented by Tatiana Bazzichelli.

Thursday January 7, 2010.
14.30-16.00, Helsingforsgade 14, Aarhus University, Turing building, 8200 Århus N, room T014.