OpenFest, is a free-to-attend festival that will take place on 2 and 3 November 2024 at the John Atanasoff Forum in Sofia Tech Park in Bulgaria.

Apart from the strictly technical topics, this year they will also focus on the open art.

Art is designed to provoke. The Open art is even more compelling because it allows you to create and release your work for use by another artist through a free license, such as Creative Commons.

What will you be able to experience, you asked? Here it is:

Workshops

Artists from Bulgaria will present their vision and help you get involved in their creative world.

Hacker Zdravko Zdravkov's workshop will encourage and show you how to create app icons that align with the freedesktop.org rules. If you have made such content for closed-source apps, this will help you reach a freer audience and millions of users.

Ivan Kavaldzhiev will provide hands-on guidance on creating free content with a large-format camera, and Miguel DnB will take you on a journey from the turntables to the digital console from the DJ's perspective.

Art Lectures

Free art is legal and guaranteed by legal norms and laws. Ana Lazarova and Sianna Lilova from the Digital Republic will clarify quite a few critical points of the most current trends around the right of artificial intelligence to use content under an open license and how far the freedoms reach.

Kiril Yanev from folk-rock formation Balkandji will lead you on a musical walk around music under open license. They were the first band in Bulgaria to publish under an open license.

Experimental Theater

In addition to all that, there will be a small experimental theater that aims to get people fighting for their rights through art, heavy metal, and the values of the Cypherpunk movement. Yes, I will be the speaker. 🎉 😋 😄 🌞

For the two days of the event, you will have the opportunity to see and participate in many actions, exhibitions, and installations that will provoke and make you think in the other direction of art - the open one.

Entrance is free. The entire program will be soon on the event website, openfest.org, and social media, so you can see exactly when and what's happening.

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The picture is under CC license. Author Peter Penchev.