Unplugged?
The Legacy House, Bucharest, Roania
21 – 26 September 2026
In a context marked by climate and energy crises, the project proposes to explore alternatives to the electric utopia through permacomputing principles and energy harvesting methods.
Unplugged? #1 is an interdisciplinary research laboratory that critically investigates the concept of post-energy and the limits of the energy and digital infrastructures. The project aims to reconnect creative communities in Romania and abroad to the material realities of technological consumption. By facilitating an applied exchange of knowledge between new media artists, researchers and the interested public, Unplugged? encourages the transition from passive consumers of technology to resource-conscious creators.
For one week, 19 artists, researchers, and tech specialists will come together to build prototypes that rethink how we use energy and challenge capitalist digital infrastructure. Along the way, the project hopes to uncover good practices that can travel beyond this setting, and that work within the limits of the planet.
The calendar includes online sharing practices sessions, 6 days of applied in-situ research at The Legacy in Bucharest, energy harvesting workshops at IT – a space for it and Simultan Festival in Timisoara, podcasts and a set of cultural mediation and public dialogue events.
Colophon
Project: Unplugged? #
Year: 2026
Curator: Sabina Suru
Technical director: Lorena Cocora
Art–Science mediator: Ada Roseti
Methodology consultants: Uroš Veber and Sebastian Frisch
Researchers: Vlad Toma, Andra Boni, Tiberiu Turbureanu
Artists: Shinji Toya, Annika Huiwei Wen, Vytaytas Bikauskas, Mariana Marangoni, Orsolya Rend, Hye Young Sin, jiawen uffline, Zachary Furste & Diego Gómez Venegas, David Lazăr
Podcast: Sorin Badea
Partners: V2 Lab for Unstable Media, Projekt Atol, SciPublicForum, The Legacy House, Simultan Festival, Plan Zero, IT – a place for it, Universitatea de Vest Timișoara, Zile și nopți
Thanks: Radio Guerrilla
Unplugged? is co-funded by the City of Timișoara through the Center for Projects and The Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) and sponsored by CTP.
The project does not necessarily represent the position of The Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the program may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding recipient.
