The 2026 Bern Graffathon took place in a special atmosphere, namely in the premises of an art studio where primarily visual art is produced. «Coding goes Art» was the motto of this edition, which was very fitting for the location. The idea of bringing coding and art together in a new edition of the Bern Graffathon came up about a year ago and was enthusiastically supported by Echtzeit.
Once a good part of the 14 participants had arrived, we spent the day clarifying needs and offering technical solutions or support as they arose.
Tools available included a RaspberryPi, modern Linux laptops, a MIDI keyboard, and a graphics tablet. A curated library of books on topics such as generative art, graphics, mathematics, coding, street art, 8-bit retro culture, and more was available for all to use.
We invited people for a tour of the studio and showed the first floor and the artists who were working there in their small and larger studios, as well as their work to the interested Graffers. On the top floor, in the middle of the small urban garden, Moovie was able to set up his analogue camera to take a fun group photo.
The sunny terrace then provided a cosy spot for a relaxing lunch break. Refreshed and inspired by conversations, most people went back to their keyboards in the afternoon to continue working creatively.
In the afternoon, it was time to take a look at the exciting Xenium demoparty in Łódź, Poland, while working. A deadline was set for 7 p.m., but we were distracted from the final sprint by the welcome and delicious pizzas.
After all the demos were completed, there was a short review round and the audience favourites were determined by voting. Among them was an artist from the studio who looked at our demos from her perspective and was able to ask some unexpected questions to the hackers.
Unfortunately, the voting was not spared from glitches. Nevertheless, here are the final winners who were able to claim a sponsored prize:
- dark matter electric cube by icoon^partek – C64 Mini (sponsored by Echtzeit)
- Tempel Fly by Daniel – Digital Graffiti Book (sponsored by the author, René Bauer)
- Glühwürmchen by Andrin – Strapazin (sponsored by Strapazin)
Thank you to all participants, sponsors, the old Loeblager and Echtzeit Digitale Kultur.
Warm digital greetings to everyone from the code, vector, and pixel world:
Moovie, 3RNI3000, se;sm
All entries can be reviewed here: https://make.echtzeitkultur.org/event/139
