VCFB 2022 Exhibitions Association Press Archive

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Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB)

October 8th and 9th, 2022

The Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) is an event about historic computers and computing technology. In exhibitions, presentations and workshops, participants from all over Germany and beyond present many different aspects of Vintage Computing. In addition to retro computers, also historical operating systems, programming languages, network technology as well as pocket and mechanic calculators will be shown. Most of the exhibited devices are in working condition. Established in 2014, the VCFB has steadily grown and has attracted nearly 3000 visitors in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the VCFB took place as an online and hybrid event respectively.

This time, as far as the pandemic situation allows, the VCFB will take place in the Pergamon Palais of the HU Berlin in the heart of Berlin. If necessary, parts of the event can be moved online. We will keep an eye on the situation and inform you here if there are any changes.

Admission is free!

Opening hours

Programme

In addition to dozens of exhibitions, presentations and workshops, the programme has even more to offer:

• Special Exhibition "Computers and Music": Computers have never been silent. From the first clacking relay computers to early tube computers with drum memory and punch card readers to the systems cooled by fans and armed with teletypes of the mainframe and minicomputer eras, computer rooms and data centres have been filled with noises. Acoustic output interfaces were added to these as early as the 1950s to intentionally output sounds. But both the ancillary noises and the sound outputs were used from the beginning by creative users to produce music. From the microcomputer age, when square waves of any frequency could be generated and sounds synthesised in a variety of ways by sound processors and cards, the production of computer music has dramatically improved in quality and quantity. In our special exhibition, we want to present and exhibit as many computers for, and methods of, sound production as possible: From the minicomputer that emits sonorous noise via a radio to the floppy disk drive whose motor can be used as a rhythm instrument; from the home computer that is used as a synthesiser to the video game that is controlled via drums.
• Game Room: The "House of Computer Games" presents the history of computer games. Visitors get a hands-on experience of past digital games on over twenty historic game consoles and home computers.
• Symposium "Hard Bit Rock – Computers and Music – Lecture Performances": Especially when art is made with computers, the question of the distribution of roles in the artistic process between man and machine arises. The moment computers make music, they are not merely instruments but live performers: they "interpret" data with their hardware, compose on the basis of algorithmic scores and use their rhythmic-temporal clock to synchronise audible and inaudible processes, which in the end output "computer music". At this year's symposium, six computers will demonstrate this in the media theatre of the HU Berlin – guided and explained by six performance artists and scientists.
• Musical educational event: TBA
• Audience Award: Visitors can vote for their favorite exhibition. The best exhibition will win the Audience Award. Voters who leave their contact details enter the drawing for another great prize.

Participating

If you want to participate in the VCFB as an exhibitor or presenter you will soon find all information needed on this page. Registration is not yet open.

If you want to help with preparations or running the event as a volunteer, send an email to info@vcfb.de and subscribe to our volunteer mailing list.

Location

Pergamon-Palais of the HU Berlin, Georgenstraße 47, 10117 Berlin, Germany

The venue is located near Friedrichstraße in the heart of Berlin. In the direct neighborhood you will find restaurants, some of which may have cheap offers. It is not possible to sleep at the venue.

Getting there

By public transport: Take the S- or U-Bahn to Friedrichstraße, then walk five minutes or take the M1 or Tram 12 to Georgenstraße/Am Kupfergraben.

By car: We recommend to use the A 100 highway up to the junction Beusselstraße, then after 2 kilometers turn right into Müllerstraße, following signs towards "Mitte". Continue along this road until you pass the train station Friedrichstraße, then turn left into Dorotheenstraße. At the end of the road, turn left and left again into Georgenstraße, reaching your destination.

A parking garage is available in Dorotheenstraße 30 (maximum height 1.90 meters). Exhibitors can stop in front of the venue for loading and unloading only.

Contact

Mail: info@vcfb.de
IRC: libera/#vc-de (Webchat)
Mastodon: @vcfberlin@chaos.social
Twitter: @vcfberlin