The Demoscene: How Software Piracy Birthed an Underground Art Scene

Presented at The Circle Of HOPE (2018), July 21, 2018, 11 p.m. (180 minutes)

Have you ever used old, pirated software and found it came with an "extra" introduction from the person who broke the copy protection? Have you ever watched a music video stored entirely in mere kilobytes of space? There's a whole community of individuals called the Demoscene trying to make art under extreme limitations, whether it be 3D graphics on an 8-bit Atari, or CD-quality music playback on a Commodore 64. This presentation will explain how that scene came to be, what it consists of now, and of course you'll see some example demos! A two hour Demoscene screening will follow.

Presenters:

• Inverse Phase
  **Inverse Phase** (@inversephase) is an established chiptune musician, writing music with old computers and game consoles for over 30 years. In that time, he has accumulated a wealth of knowledge - some of it useful, even - on the hardware used to write music and more. Pretty Eight Machine, his tribute to the Nine Inch Nails’ album Pretty Hate Machine on eight 8-bit systems, was recognized by the band itself, and he has taken to researching both the history and technical aspects of retro hardware in an effort to spread that knowledge worldwide.

Links:

• https://xii.hope.net/schedule.html#-the-demoscene-how-software-piracy-birthed-an-underground-art-scene-
• https://infocon.org/cons/2600/The Circle of HOPE (2018)/The Circle of HOPE (2018) The Demoscene How Software Piracy Birthed an Underground Art Scene.mp4
• https://infocon.org/cons/2600/The Circle of HOPE (2018)/The Circle of HOPE (2018) The Demoscene How Software Piracy Birthed an Underground Art Scene.eng.srt (subtitles)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9-RVVpV83k

Similar Presentations:

• A New HOPE (2022) / Demoscene 2022: Electric Boogaloo
• HOPE 2020 Virtual Rescheduled / Demoscenes
• The Next HOPE (2010) / Introduction to the Chip Scene: Low Bit Music and Visuals