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Piksel25 November 20-23 2025 Bergen, Norway Dear friends, We are excited to announce the call for projects for the 23nd edition of the Piksel Festival! Piksel will again go hybrid this year, so we welcome ideas for both online and physical collaborative activities. We are also interested in projects that involve the virtual gallery IDLE. If you are a 3D artist, live coder, or feel inspired by the virtual environment IDLE (Inclusive Digital Laboratory for Experimental Art), we would love to hear your ideas. IDLE includes a virtual gallery that mimics the physical Piksel Studio 207 and is connected to the IDLE IoT system, with lights, screens, and a sound system controlled by the internet (Internet of Things system). Learn more at https://idle.piksel.no/. To make the most of our resources and create a more sustainable event, we are extending the exhibition period from the festival dates until mid-December. We encourage you to present art installations that can be built in Bergen to minimize international transport, aligning with our green strategy. Due to limited resources, we will prioritize projects from individual artists or artist collectives that can explore a specific theme through multiple artworks and workshops. We warmly encourage artists to apply to different open tracks, as this will help us better understand the full scope of your work. Please feel free to submit your projects to any of the open tracks: presentations, workshops, concerts, installations, and PikselSavers. Piksel offers travel to Norway, accommodation, and meals during the festival and the setup days in advance to help you realize your project. We look forward to receiving your submissions! !!!!!!!!!! Deadline — October 31st 2025 !!!!!!!!!! Please use the online submit form at: https://pretalx.com/piksel25/ More info: https://piksel.no/ open CALL for PROJECTS For the exhibition and other parts of the program we currently seek projects in the following categories: 1. Installations Projects to be included in the exhibitions. The works must be realized by the use of free and open source technologies. For Piksel25 we specially encourage projects in the field of DIY BIOart and renewable/sustainable technologies to apply. 2. Audiovisual performance Live art realized by the use of free software and/or open/DIY hardware. If you are a 3D artist/live coder or feel inspired by the virtual environment IDLE, Inclusive Digital Laboratory for Experimental Art, we would like to hear your ideas. IDLE consists of a virtual gallery, mimicking the physical Piksel Studio 207 and the IDLE IoT system, lights, screen and sound system controlled by internet (Internet of Things). https://idle.piksel.no/ 3. Presentations Innovative DIY/open hardware and audiovisual software tools or software art released under a free/open license. (Also includes presentations of artistic projects realized using free/open technologies.) For Piksel25 we specially encourage projects in the field of DIY BIOart and renewable/sustainable technologies to apply. 4. Workshops Hands on workshops utilizing free software and/or open/DIY hardware for artistic use. For Piksel25 we specially encourage projects in the field of DIY BIOart and renewable/sustainable technologies to apply. 5. PikselSavers Video and software art based on the screensaver format – short audiovisual (non)narratives made for endless looping. Possible thematic fields includes but are not limited to: sustainable resource allocation, renewable technologies, energy harvesting, fair trade hardware, free content, open access, open data, DIY economy, shared development. The works must be realized by the use of free/open source technologies. —

Excursion 17-20.10 Leipzig : Dear all, we warmly invite you to join our excursion to the festival Politik im Freien Theater in Leipzig. We’ll be there with the installation “Graniczanka” – and we’d like to use the opportunity to experience exciting performances and discussions together around the theme of “borders.” What’s set so far: Friday 17.10 You will travel to Leipzig individually. We’ll meet at 4:00 pm at the HGB Gallery at the “Graniczanka” installation. In the evening we’ll attend “Roden” by Daniel Kötter at 8:00 pm. Saturday 18.10 : We’ll continue with “Work Body” by Turinsky at 5:30 pm. Sunday 19.10 : “Schlagerballett” by Joana Tischkau is on the program at 7:00 pm. Further festival visits are possible, and we’re planning meetings and conversations with participating artists. It’s important to us to shape the excursion program together with you – we’re happy to receive your ideas and suggestions. Return travel on Monday 20.10 will be individual. Please arrange your own accommodation. Registration is possible until Monday September 29. Please register with us at: ksobel@hfg-karlsruhe.de & cfischbeck@hfg-karlsruhe.de The preparatory meeting will take place on October 1 at 11:00 am. We’d be happy if you join us! Here is the festival link: https://www.bpb.de/pift2025/ All the best, Constanze & Karo

The Hambach Forest was originally supposed to be cleared by the energy supplier RWE for the Hambach open-cast lignite mine. Almost all of the residents of the nearby village of Manheim have been resettled, and the local buildings are falling into disrepair. In recent years, climate activists have erected temporary huts and tents in the Sündi (hereditary forest) to prevent the village from being cleared. Currently, trees in the neighbouring ‘Sündenwäldchen’ (forest of sins) are being cleared for gravel extraction in order to launch a large-scale, as yet unfunded real estate project consisting of one of Europe's largest inland marinas and luxury residential complexes after the end of coal mining. It is expected that the remains of the ‘Sündenwäldchen’ will be cleared in October and that a large lignite excavator will dig up the forest and parts of the village. During an excursion, we will use large-format cameras to document and artistically approach these architectures on site. Working with a large-format camera requires patience, time and learning large-format camera techniques (panning, shifting, Scheimpflug rule), which we will practise and try out on site. During an excursion, we will use large-format cameras to document and artistically explore these architectural structures on site. Working with a large-format camera requires patience, time and learning large-format camera techniques (panning, shifting, Scheimpflug rule), which we will practise and try out on site. The project will conclude with a joint exhibition of the photographs and a publication. The photographic works deal with the tree house villages of Hambacher Wald and Lützerath, as well as the nearby villages of Manheim and Morschenich, which are to make way for the Hambach and Garzweiler II open-cast mines in the coming years. I want to photographically contrast the demolition of houses in the villages of the Rhineland mining area with the construction of (new) tree houses in the forest. Destruction and construction are to be juxtaposed here: the destruction of nature through the clearing of the forest; the destruction of the tree houses and the surrounding villages; the encroachment on nature and the hope for something new. In doing so, we will try to strike a gentle tone and elicit a magical realism from the village districts, which are all too often depicted only in their harshness. The aim is to learn the basics of using a large-format camera. After the excursion, the black-and-white negatives will be developed and scanned together. Students who have been on a large-format excursion can further develop the images. We will travel to Hambach together and stay overnight in a holiday apartment/tent. The return journey will be individual. Eisenhart Keimeyer, Roland Solich Max. 6-9 participants After Hambi II – Experimental large-format printing in the black-and-white and colour lab (basic certificate) (Module 2) In the second part of the project, we focus on experimentally enlarging the resulting 4x5-inch negatives. In the black-and-white lab, we work with different papers such as PE with different surfaces. We test different exposure times, contrast filters and formats. We use classic darkroom techniques such as contact prints, section enlargements, dodging and burning, and post-exposure. Graphic or free approaches can also be part of the process, for example through the use of expired photographic paper. The focus is on the artistic exploration of the analogue printing process. How can the visual depth and slowness of large-format photographs be enhanced by printing them in larger formats? What effect do the motifs have in different sizes, materials and lighting conditions? After Hambi II, we print in large format. For students who can demonstrate an introduction to black-and-white or colour laboratory work. For students who have no laboratory experience, we offer additional introductory courses in black-and-white and colour laboratory work.