Alternative Party is a

demoscene The demoscene () is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off computer programmi ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

event in Finland. It was first organized in 1998 in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

and since 2000 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. The event is organized by Alternative Party ry, a non-profit association. Alternative Party is one of the largest

demo parties Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than for release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Dea ...

in Finland. The aim of the event is to encourage artists (both demoscene and traditional arts) to creativity and new perspectives – regardless of the used equipment. The event is known for its peculiar competitions. The main focus has traditionally mean on less common computers, although PCs are currently accepted as well. The competitions—except for the main demo competition—tend to change every year as an extra challenge. There is also a traditional concert on the first evening, featuring artists of demoscene background playing live music. The seventh Alternative Party was held on 2–4 November 2007 in Helsinki. Speakers included

Al Lowe Albert William Lowe (born July 24, 1946) is an American video game designer who developed several adventure games, mostly for Sierra On-Line. He created the '' Leisure Suit Larry'' series. He has also worked as a casting director, voice director ...

, creator of the legendary

Leisure Suit Larry ''Leisure Suit Larry'' is an adult-themed sex comedy video game series created by Al Lowe. Drawing inspiration from '' Softporn Adventure'', the ''Leisure Suit Larry'' series centers on Larry Laffer—a middle-aged man known for his balding ...

series of games. The Alternative Party held on 24–26 October 2008 in Helsinki was the first time that one of the big pioneers of industrial music,

Front 242 Front 242 is a Belgian electronic music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. Pioneering the style they called electronic body music, they influenced the electronic and industrial music genres. History Formation Front 242 were for ...

, played for a Finnish audience. The special guest of honour was

Brad Templeton Brad Templeton (born June 1960 near Toronto) is a Canadian software developer, internet entrepreneur, online community pioneer, publisher of news, comedy, science fiction and e-books, writer, photographer, civil rights advocate, futurist, public s ...

, founder of

ClariNet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and, from 2008, chairman of the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

. Cyberpunk themed Alt Party 2009 was held on 23–25 October 2009 at Cable Factory (

Kaapelitehdas Kaapelitehdas ( Finnish for "the Cable Factory", also called simply Kaapeli, ) is a famous building in Salmisaari, Helsinki, near the Lauttasaari bridge. It was redeveloped from its industrial use into a cultural centre which hosts artists st ...

), Helsinki. The event made a comeback in 2024, with Alternative Party 2024 held on 11-13 October 2024 at the Museum of Technology, Helsinki, exploring artificial intelligence and dynamic demos.

Notable special guests

* 2002:

RJ Mical Robert J. Mical (born 26 January 1956) is an American computer programmer and hardware designer who has primarily worked in video games. He is best known for creating the user interface, Intuition, for Commodore's Amiga personal computer (1985) ...

* 2003:

Jeff Minter Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games ...

* 2004:

Jyrki Kasvi Jyrki Jouko Juhani Kasvi (6 January 1964 – 16 November 2021) was a Finnish politician, and a member of the Parliament of Finland, Finnish Parliament, representing the Green League. Biography Kasvi held a Ph.D. in Engineering from the Helsin ...

* 2007:

* 2008:

* 2009: Dope Stars Inc.,

Jeri Ellsworth Jeri Janet Ellsworth (born August 14, 1974) is an American entrepreneur, computer chip designer and inventor. She gained fame in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 emulator system on a chip housed within a joystick, called Commodore 30- ...

Sophie Wilson Sophie Mary Wilson (born Roger Wilson; June 1957) is an English computer scientist, a co-designer of the instruction set for the ARM architecture. Wilson first designed a microcomputer during a break from studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge. ...

* 2010: Casey Pugh, Sini Merikallio, JP Metsävainio * 2024:

Nick Montfort Nick Montfort is an American computer scientist and poet who is a professor of digital media at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he directs a lab called The Trope Tank. He also holds a part-time position at the University of Bergen whe ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.altparty.org/ Demo parties Culture in Helsinki Recurring events established in 1998 Arts festivals in Finland Autumn in Finland