NODE+CODE #18 – Smart City Lab

Rethinking and discussing the smart city.

NODE+CODE #18 took on a special format, integrating the semester presentations of Prof. Sebastian Oschatz’s Interaction Design students from the Offenbach University of Art and Design into the meetup program. The focus was on exploring and making tangible the hidden organisational infrastructures that underpin our cities – infrastructures that are crucial for liveable urban life yet often remain invisible, complex, and hard to discuss.

 
Photos by Eda Temucin
 

The event was inspired by the City of Frankfurt’s Stabsstelle Digitalisierung, which is planning a practical laboratory to engage citizens with the Smart City concept through accessible formats. Responding to the questions raised in this process, the students developed experimental setups, participatory tools, and artistic prototypes aimed at visualising complexity, fostering dialogue, and strengthening democratic processes in urban contexts.

Presentations

  • Devin Can introduced a physical discussion space for producing video formats, using tools that make visual information instantly available and connect citizens beyond the event.

  • Bikem Şahin presented a multiplayer game in which participants collaborate to solve digitalisation-related challenges, encouraging playful and shared learning.

  • Xinran Yin showed a construction kit for citizen participation, with 3D-printed components enabling all age groups to experiment with public space design. Xinran also presented a gesture-controlled game to make participation more engaging and personal.

  • Xenia Watson unveiled a sculptural wall object mapping the complexity of city administration actors, offering a playful way to explore and reimagine organisational structures.

The evening brought together artistic research, civic design, and public discussion in a convivial atmosphere – with free soup for all, staying true to the NODE+CODE tradition.

 
 

Contributors

 

Sebastian Oschatz

Frankfurt, Germany

meso.net

Sebastian is a designer working in the intersection of digital technology, communication and space. He sparked the development of the software toolkit vvvv and designed and programmed many of its basic concepts.

In 1998 he co-founded the design studio MESO Digital Interiors GmbH. He is responsible for the strategic conceptual, creative and technical planning of exhibits and digital spaces for industry clients such as BMW or KUKA, as well as cultural institutions.

His passions are transforming borders and enabling innovation by deeply exploring technical foundations and questioning the framing of the problem.

Until 1994 was part of the music project Oval, which pioneered experimental glitch aesthetic with an accessible pop sensibility.

He studied computer science, and has worked as artist. He occasionally teaches history of technology and interaction design at various universities.

  • 3 hosts

  • 5 contributors

  • 35 community members

  • meetup #18

  • delicious soup

Funding

The project is funded in the program “Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries Institutions” by the Hessian Ministry of Economy, Energy, Transport and Housing.

 

In collaboration with

Hosted by

Agentur des städtischen Wandels