Conceived and organized by Jon Satrom and Nick Briz, Lecturers of Media Art & Design at the University of Chicago, BrowserFest borrows the format of a playful and friendly demo party to celebrate and experiment with one of the most common and versatile digital apps ever invented. We rely on web browsers every day, yet they are often overlooked. They are our gateway to the internet – and during Covid-19 they have been our window to the world. However, browsers are not only a medium to passively consume what the WWW has to offer, but they can be used to experiment and create content and art. Thus, BrowserFest invites the tinkerers, hackers, poets, musicians, and artists among our students to build their own designs in and of the internet browser.
BrowserFest will begin with an NfoParty on Feb. 22 at 5 p.m., in which students will learn details about the demo scene more generally and in particular about the workshop schedule, the DemoParty submission categories and the logistics of registering yourself and/or your creative team.
Novices of browser art will have the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills in a series of asynchronous, interactive, and hyper-media workshops, which will drop weekly during the month of March. Learn from elite artists and hackers as technical tips and creative approaches are shared. Beginners & 1337 h4x04z welcome!
The final live, but virtual, BrowserFest DemoParty on April 10 will provide an opportunity to all individuals and creative teams to present their submitted designs and creations to each other and the broader public. Projects and products will be shared, judged, and voted on both by peers and judges, culminating in a ruckus celebration of experimental digital art, hypermedia, glitches, code poetry – topped off with “refreshing” browser-based real time performances and prizes.
All events and workshop launches will happen at https://browserfest.netizen.org. Sign up for the BrowserFest email list and follow @netizenorg on Twitter for communiqué!
*This Winterfest event is Maroon Cup point eligible.* 25 points will be awarded for winning submissions. While we encourage as many of your house members as possible to become involved with Winterfest, like Intramurals, your house will be limited to earning points just once for this activity. Even if your house has several of these winning submissions, you will still only earn 25 total points. To be eligible for Maroon Cup points, all individuals/teams must include their house’s name within their entry. If participating as a team, all team members must be eligible house members to earn Maroon Cup points.