Digital Sizzle brings together artists and coders

When hack days throw the right people together, skills are shared, and new things are designed – often in quite a rudimentary way – that otherwise might never have been dreamt of.

This is the ninth Digital Sizzle
This is the ninth Digital Sizzle

Although the name needs a bit of work we really like Digital Sizzle Arthack 2.0, 2013’s take on the format.

Last year Digital Sizzle turned its focus to art and tech, and it is set to return next week when 50 artists will be mixed up with 50 hackers/coders in small groups.

Digital Sizzle Arthack 1.0, 2012
Digital Sizzle Arthack 1.0, 2012

Locked away together for a weekend backdropped by a barbeque and booze, they will be unshackled from the confines of their day jobs, and perhaps for this reason have been given the seemingly open ended brief: ‘Take data and turn it into something creative.’

‘So many hack events are about creating a business and pitching it to investors but a lot of your time is spent worrying about if it will make money or not,’ says Michael Hobson, co-founder of events group 3Beards, which is behind Digital Sizzle.

Digital Sizzle Arthack 1.0, 2012
Digital Sizzle Arthack 1.0, 2012

Last year they took over the Whitechapel Gallery to display the results. This year all projects will be displayed at a launch event on 16 August followed by a public showcase on 17-18 at the D&D South Place Hotel. Winning projects will be showcased in the foyer of the Barbican in last two weeks of August.

Mentors already signed up to help teams include Tim Regan of the Cambridge Microsoft Research Lab. He is currently working on information visualisation, the future of the book, social software and mobile media.

Digital Sizzle Arthack 1.0, 2012
Digital Sizzle Arthack 1.0, 2012

Santi Ortega, a freelance designer specialising in 3D design and programming for architectural-scale installations who tutors at the Royal College of Art will be on hand to help.

Digital Sizzle Arthack 2.0, 2013 takes place at the South Place Hotel, 3 South Place, EC2M from 26-28 July. Tickets priced £100 are available here.

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