Opening: Open Codes
The lettering »Open Codes« in magenta against a background of code.
Living in Digital Worlds
Thu, October 19, 2017 7 pm CEST, Opening

Today we live in a globalized world, controlled and created by digital codes. From communication to transportation (of people, goods, and messages), everything is guided by codes that use electromagnetic waves and computers. With the »Open Codes. Living in Digital Worlds« exhibition, the ZKM | Karlsruhe is once again addressing the subject of digitalization and the recording of the world through the binary code.

To understand the world we inhabit
To understand the world we live in
To understand the world that sustains us

Everyone should have the chance to understand what lies behind today’s digital world. The exhibition will present artworks and scientific works based on digital as well as on analog codes. The works visualize and explain the complex dynamics of code, and the way in which they are increasingly shaping the way we live and perceive the world. The exhibition will be a mix of a laboratory and a lounge, a »Club Mediterranée«, and a learning environment. 

We would like to test new and perhaps unusual education and learning formats with our visitors, and create new approaches to knowledge in a relaxed atmosphere that stimulates learning. Programming, learning with bots and other new technologies should no longer pose a limit to education.

The opening of the exhibition takes place on Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 7pm – we look forward to welcoming you! 

Speakers at the opening: 

  • Peter Weibel, Chairman of the ZKM 
  • Frank Mentrup, Lord Mayor of the City of Karlsruhe
  • Petra Olschowski, State Secretary in the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts
  • Michael Resch, Director of the High Performance Computing Center | Stuttgart (HLRS) 
Organization / Institution
ZKM | Center for Art and Media

Accompanying program