Alternative Party is a demoscene and art event in Finland. It was first organized in 1998 in Turku and since 2000 in Helsinki. The event is organized by Alternative Party ry, a non-profit association. Alternative Party is one of the largest demo parties 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, creator of the legendary Leisure Suit Larry 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 are a profound influence on the electronic and industrial music genres. History Formation Fr ...

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

ClariNet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and, from 2008, chairman of the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...

. 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, sv, Kabelfabriken) is a famous building in Salmisaari, Helsinki, near the Lauttasaari bridge. It was redeveloped from its industrial use into a cultural centre which ...

), Helsinki.

Notable special guests

* 2002:

Robert J. Mical Robert J. "RJ" 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 (Amiga), Intuition, for Commodore's Amiga ...

* 2003: Jeff Minter * 2004:

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

* 2007: Al Lowe * 2008:

, Brad Templeton * 2009:

Dope Stars Inc. Dope Stars Inc. is an Italian alternative and industrial rock band from Rome, formed in 2003. The band was founded by Victor Love, Darin Yevonde, Grace Khold and Brian Wolfram. They have five albums and three EPs released, with the latest being re ...

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 * 2010: Casey Pugh, Sini Merikallio, JP Metsävainio

References

External links

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