Chaosdorf is a

hackspace A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" (501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, sc ...

operated by

non-profit association A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

(''

Eingetragener Verein An (; "registered association" or "incorporated association"), abbreviated (), is a legal status for a registered voluntary association in Germany. While any group may be called a , registration as confers many legal benefits, because it con ...

'') ''Chaos Computer Club Düsseldorf / Chaosdorf e.V.'' in the city of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is Düsseldorf’s

Chaos Computer Club The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) is Europe's largest association of hackers with 7,700 registered members. Founded in 1981, the association is incorporated as an ''eingetragener Verein'' in Germany, with local chapters (called ''Erfa-Kreise'') in ...

chapter.

The association

Chaosdorf is operated by non-profit association ''Chaos Computer Club Düsseldorf / Chaosdorf e.V.'' and is mainly financed by member fees and donations. A membership in the association is not required to take part in the mostly cost-free workshops and meetings. The purpose of the association is the creation of an environment for

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

, modern

information privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data pr ...

and socializing between communities.

History

Founding

Chaosdorf was founded 24 April 2001. Their first rooms were located on Fürstenwall 232 in

Düsseldorf-Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt is an urban quarter of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 3. It is south of the city centre of Düsseldorf, north of Bilk, west of Oberbilk, and east of Unterbilk. Friedrichstadt has an area of , and 19,607 inhabitants (2020). Friedri ...

Second hackspace

After a lengthy renovation process Chaosdorf moved into a new building on Hüttenstrasse that used to be a "rather sketchy nightclub" in 2011. The space itself consists of four rooms: A large lounge/hackcenter, a kitchen, a media room, and a workshop. Chaosdorf owns different kinds of equipment to help members fulfilling their projects and offering services.

Nationwide awareness

Chaosdorf is known in the German hackspace culture for organizing ''Easterhegg 2002'' – the first Easterhegg event outside of Hamburg – and ''OpenChaos: Hackerspace Design Patterns''. It gained mainstream attention in 2013 for organizing a large-scale

street protest A political demonstration is an action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formati ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

demanding

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

after

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

announced to throttle web traffic. Chaosdorf gained even more widespread mainstream attention after

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

published a story about its non-commercial in-house ''OwnBeer''

microbrewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

. On 30 December 2013

Rheinische Post ''Rheinische Post'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhine- ...

, a major German regional daily newspaper, published a two page feature about Chaosdorf. The hackspace also supports friendly organizations such as

Forum Freies Theater Forum Freies Theater is a theatre in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

Free Software Foundation Europe The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is an ''eingetragener Verein'' (registered voluntary association) under German law. It was founded in 2001 to support all aspects of the free software movement in Europe, with registered chapters in seve ...

, Freifunk Rheinland e.V., and Sub-Etha by providing room for meetings, storage for hardware, or infrastructure.

International awareness

In October 2013 members of the technology online magazine

Hack a Day ''Hackaday'' is a hardware hacking website. It was founded in 2004 as a web magazine. Since 2014, Hackaday also hosts a community database of open-source hardware designs. History Hackaday was founded in 2004 by Phillip Torrone as a web magaz ...

published a story about Chaosdorf – their first visit in a German hackspace.

New hackspace "Chaosdorf 4.0"

In 2020 Chaosdorf moved to a bigger building on Sonnenstrasse. The new space provides the following rooms: class room, electronic lab, wet lab, hackcenter, kitchen/lounge, and fab lab (''Werkstatt'').

Renowned members

Among the members of Chaosdorf are a few renowned people such as former member of parliament North Rhine-Westphalia Marc Olejak of the

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

Rachid Maazouz and the security researchers Ilias Morad, Alexander Karl, and Martin Dessauer.

External links

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References

{{Hackerspace Hackerspaces Computer clubs in Germany Non-profit organisations based in North Rhine-Westphalia Education in Düsseldorf Culture in Düsseldorf Organisations based in Düsseldorf