Are you an artist, designer, researcher, software designer or developer? Working in marketing, law, technology, policymaking, politics? Interested in human rights and equality? Are you open to working on collaborative projects that can speak to the imagination of a wider audience and inspire them to think about their digital agency? If you answered yes to any of these questions, or if you’re simply concerned about our digital rights and the lack of agency across the online platforms we use, then IMPAKT is looking for you!
Respond to this open call to join a co-creation project across the Netherlands and Belgium concerning digital rights! The deadline is 15 February 2026 (before 23:59 CET). You will receive notification of the results of your application before 8 March 2026.
CODE 2026 programme
CODE 2026 is a five-month co-creation trajectory running from April to July 2026. Participants will work in interdisciplinary groups, guided by mentors, through a series of physical and remote meetings. The programme consists of five on-site appointments, two remote working moments with mentors, and a final three-day hackathon, which will take place at the end of the co-creation process.
All meetings and activities will be conducted in English.
Meetings and activities
All sessions, with the exception of online meetings and the hackathon, will generally take place between 13:00 and 18:00. The time is indicative and may be subject to slight changes.
1st session: Saturday 25 April 2026
2nd session: Saturday 2 May 2026
Remote activity with individual groups and mentors: either 9 or 16 May 2026
3rd session: Saturday 23 May 2026
4th session: Saturday 6 June 2026
Remote activity with individual groups and mentors: either 13 or 20 June 2026
5th session: Saturday 27 June 2026
Final hackathon: Saturday 10–12 July 2026
Applicants should carefully consider this schedule before applying.
Participation in all activities is mandatory.
The hackathon: a different format
In contrast to previous editions, the CODE 2026 hackathon will take place at the end of the programme, functioning as the concluding moment of the co-creation process rather than its starting point.
The hackathon will be organised as a camping-based gathering. IMPAKT will arrange basic camp facilities. Participants are expected to bring their own tent or van. Participants who prefer to stay in a hotel may do so at their own expense. IMPAKT is currently researching nearby hotel options.
What is CODE about?
Initiated in 2021 as a response to growing concerns regarding agency over digital tools and online platforms, CODE aims to influence public policy and build awareness of the most pressing digital challenges today. Through cross-disciplinary collaborations we hope to address the hegemonic influence of big tech companies on our digital autonomy and interrogate the role of the government in such a matter. With CODE, we are driven by the question: what can we, as concerned citizens, researchers, and artists, do to support and reclaim digital agency?
With the open call for CODE 2026, we invite creatives, professional and non-professional artists, and concerned citizens of the Netherlands and Belgium to embark on a journey of critical discourse and collaborative creation regarding digital rights. Between April and July of 2026, you will work with other participants on group artworks to be presented at international festivals and events.
Across the past five editions of CODE, we have supported over 130 artists and non-artists alike in collaboration on creative projects. We have also brought together national and international politicians and pundits for interviews, panels, and presentations, and we have presented our projects at international events such as Ars Electronica, transmediale, Dutch Design Week, MozFest House, Public Spaces Conference, re:publica, Dutch Media Week, Betweter, and the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference.
The projects that were produced, the talks hosted, and the many interviews shared with politicians, policy-makers, and activists can all be found at code.impakt.nl
CODE 2026 is an international programme organised by IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] in Utrecht, in collaboration with Werktank, (production platform for media art) in Leuven and Privacy Salon / CPDP (Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference) in Brussels.