10 Years of Nerdcore: Hackmeeting in Pisa

This year the annual Italian hackmeeting happens for the 10th time. On September 28, 29 and 30 the various hacker tribes of Italy descend on the historic city if Pisa. Hosted by the social centre Rebeldia 5 minutes walk from the train station the meeting continues the tradition of self-organisation. As opposed to other fairly expensives hacker campings further north financial contributions here are entirely voluntary and in return participants are actually expected to share some of the work.

Having arrived one day early I had the opportunity to watch self-organisation in action on the evening preceding the opening day. The feeling is really like a family and people are wearing the various T-Shirts and sweaters of groups such as Autistici, Inventati, or Freaknet. Unfortunately, weatherwise, it is a bit of a wash-out, but apart from that the atmosphere is great. The meeting is very friendly and also the self-organised food is great. Yesterday we had lentil soup, today I opted for the spinach and mozarella lasagne, washed down with an excellent no-logo Chianti. Yesterday evening belonged to informal exchange which basically meant that while people kept arriving everybody drank alot and celebrations went quite late into the night. Today, friday the 29th the talks and seminars are starting. There are 3 seminar rooms and the programme is quite impressive - though all in Italian except for international guests, Emmanuel Goldstein, founder of 2600 magazine and the HOPE conferences, Andy Mueller-Maguhn, of the first CCC generation, and the author of this article. Among the variously talented nerds I met also an artist from the arts academy of Bologna who tries to participate in the meeting by making drawings. This signifies the open approach that the Italian scene has to the intersections of hacking, life, politics and art which fit very well the motto and intentions of this site and which is also expressed by the official 'propaganda' of the website of the hackmeeting.