Hacking through the Body at 35C3 Conference

CCC is an annual conference organized by Chaos Computer Club in Germany. It attracts computer science professionals, software developers, hackers and activists from around the world.

At #35C3 that took place in Leipzig between the 27 and 30th December 2018 we delivered a lightning talk (below) on Bodymind Operating Systems (see the description and the slides on C2L website). We presented the metaphor of an operating system in relation to our psyche and to our body, proposing to question the “software” we run as the human beings (as much as we question the proprietary software that is ran by our devices).

We also hosted two workshop sessions in ∞OS with more than 100 participants.

The first session called “Bodymind Operating System: Adaptation, Infiltration and Vulnerability” proposed the participants to explore the various types of dynamics that can be observed in complex natural systems using their own bodies. Such practice allows people to understand these processes in a much more efficient way that through standard conceptual-based learning, as the new concepts and realizations get inscribed on the level of reflexes becoming immediately available in many different contexts outside of the physical realm.

In the second session called “Hacking through the Body: Systema and Aerodynamics of Cognitive Dance” we proposed the participants to explore various concepts and metaphors used in hacking through their bodies in interactive exercises. We explored the notions of vulnerability, disruption, interception from the point of view of physical practice. What does it mean to “disrupt” or “intercept” a physical body? What are the sensations that come with it? How do we deal with the outcomes? How to prevent such attacks?

…

CCC conference is especially interesting because it attracts the people who have a worldview that’s different from the mainstream technological hype of today. At the same time, unlike other “alternative” conferences, the participants of CCC are not marginalized by society: they have the knowledge, the access, and the resources to actually change something and to transform the current flow of things. That’s why we were very interested to share ∞OS practice in this context.