| EUSKAL ENCOUNTER 15 IS ALREADY HERE Bilbao, 10 July 2006.- With BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Centre) as a backdrop Euskal Encounter will be this year again the main referent for the computer world between 20th and 23rd July. This party, which in 2007 will reach its 15th edition comes, as usual, full of contents and novelty. Euskal Encounter is part of a phenomenon which first started in the late 80’s in several countries of Northern Europesuch as Norway, Denmark or Germany. The doyenne party in Spain, will occupy a 35,000 square meter area in BEC, where som 4.096 will be connected, and they will have a 8 Giga per second Internet access. Fundación Euskaltel is responsible for organising the event, and they rely on Euskaltel, BBK (Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa), DFB (Diputación Foral de Bizkaia) and SPRI (Sociedad para la Promoción y Reconversión Industrial) sponsorship so that it is such a success. And was these all not enough, Ruskal Encounter relies on the best technological sponsors in the market Cisco Systems and HP. Awaiting more than 5.500 attendants, who will enrol themselves in a 96 hours non-interrupted activity, and prize money over 50.000 €, the first computer macroparty in Spain pushes boundaries edition after edition. Attendants to the event will enrol themselves in a Friday-to-Monday non-stop activity, and taking into account that prize money is over 50.000 €, it is clear the first computer macroparty in Spain invents and overtakes itself with every new edition. pushes boundaries edition after edition. A didactic calling If anything has featured Euskal Encounter throughout all this long years it is its clearly marked didactic stress. This is not only the gather point for the several communities that come,- we all know sceners, gamers, free sofware addicts, ardent hardware lovers and their several variations ( modders, overclockers…)-, but it is also the place where they all share their knowledge in an open and totally unselfish way: in this sense, it is a space for the free circulation of ideas and thoughts, similar to the concept of ‘University’ existing some many years ago. That’s why during the present edition of Euskal Encounter there will be more than 15 lectures and several radio programmes will be recorded. Talks on varied subjects, from especial effects in cinema to minigames programmation passing through the future of Mainframe or how to create your own animation studio will be handy all the four days the party takes round, both for attendants and for casual visitors completely free. Other activities As it has already been pointed out, Euskal Encounter has traditionally outstood because of the heterogeneous of its attendance. But if something is to be remarked in the present edition it is above all the wide range of alternative activities offered. RetroEuskal, and these retrocomputer friends are already veterans to Euskal Encounter, proposes us several didactic workshops, informative talks, their well known museum, a ‘gametrack’ and even some retrolympic games. Electronics, as it might sound natural, has been with us from the very beggining, but this time and for the first one, it will score an individualised presence in the party thanks to the Robotics workshop where we will be able to learn how to build and program a robot. Overclockers, expert in taking computers’ capabilities even beyond the furthest extreme, who in the latest edition delighted us all with an amazingly superb extreme freezing exhibition, will be back again with an overclocking workshop where they will try and show us the most hidden secrets os their liking. On Friday, July 20th, immediately after the official opening act performed by authorities, there will be a live concert on the main stage by ‘Gose’ a group from Arrasate who has recently got under the glare of starlights after having made the original soundtrack for the film ‘Eutsi’, and whose stile mixes trikitixa-a traditional instrument in Basque culture, and electronics. Nonetheless, the music offer for this Euskal Encounter does not end here, for on Saturday, July 21st, there will be another live concert by the scene digital artists Goto80 and Entter. And should proffesional performances not be enough, organisers propose participants to enrol themselves in this ‘fiesta’ through activities such as ‘SingStar’, ‘Guitar hero’ or ‘Air band’, all of which are socializing activities which link music to computers, altogether with some many more of a purely recreational sort in order to make attendants at Euskal Encounter on this third weekend in July enjoy as ever they have. mikel@euskal.org Tels. 943533696 |
