We were at the GRADE finale in Warsaw!

On 8 October, we were in Warsaw for the finale of COST GRADE — Grassroots of Digital Europe. A conference, workshops and the “Bits Behind the Curtain” exhibition, plus a chance to meet people working on the history of computers and digital cultures. We had a great time!

The demoscene was well represented at the “Bits Behind the Curtain” exhibition at NASK. Łukasz “Zenial” Szałankiewicz was on the exhibition’s programme committee and also lent his “Zapisane w module” collection for the duration of the exhibition.

Kaja “kya” Mikoszewska, who is part of KSKPD and also works with the Foundation for the History of Home Computers, came to our rescue after a lengthy illness and created all the exhibition’s graphic design, posters and exhibition album. Huge thanks and a big shout-out, Kaja!

I, Andrzej “angelo” Lichnerowicz, brought along the commemorative plaque we received from Poland’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage when “Demoscene — the culture of demo creators” was added to the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. It’s the gold one in the purple frame in the photo above. It sat alongside demoscene publications and demoparty badges.

I also gave the closing talk, “How does a grassroots digital community become cultural heritage?”. I spoke about what communities need to consider when applying for inclusion on an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) list, drawing on our experience of getting the Polish demoscene onto the National List.

I’ll post the transcript soon, and we’ll cover the talk in a separate blog post.

That’s me, Zenial and Andreas Lange in the group photo. Andreas and Tobias Kopka founded Art of Coding and began the campaign to have the demoscene recognised as intangible cultural heritage. I was one of the first people on the Polish side to join those efforts, working with the German initiators.

This was GRADE’s last in-person event. A book produced as part of the project will also be out soon: “Silicon Dawn: Histories and Cultures of Creative Computing in Europe (1970-2000)”. It covers the history of creative computing in Europe, including early networks, informal distribution, hardware and software experiments, and the demoscene.

According to GRADE’s announcement, the book will be published by De Gruyter Brill in autumn 2026, both in print and as an open-access publication.

Thanks to everyone involved, especially the Foundation for the History of Home Computers, NASK and SWPS University, for working with us. A special shout-out to Mirek Filiciak, Kinga B. Skorupska and Maciej Grzeszczuk!

You can find more about the event on the GRADE website and the Foundation for the History of Home Computers website.