Keynote: The Inanna Project

An experiment in art, technology, and the transformative power of Free Hardware and Software

In June 2010, two Austrian artists/hackers went to Damascus to make an experiment.

We wanted to challenge the notion that art and technology are somehow opposites, so we decided to teach artists to use micro controllers and programming. We wanted to challenge the notion that technology is somehow a "guy thing", so we decided to work specifically with women artists. And we wanted to make people aware that freedom of expression is inseparable from free access to knowledge, so we decided to use only Free Hardware and Free Software in our workshop.

My presentation is about this experiment and its results. But it is also about the general potential of technology as a medium for self-expression and as an agent of change - and about what that means for us who want to be the creators of our future and not only its product.