What does it mean to handmake website, when AI systems can generate endless (more or less) sophisticated code in a matter of seconds? Why should anyone even bother learning HTML, CSS, and (somewhat chaotic) JavaScript anymore, instead of outsourcing this task to a machine? Furthermore, the perceived requirements and expectations for a website have become so complicated and opaque that many avoid the subject altogether. This course aims to challenge these notions and reclaim a creative space.

In the course “Handmade Websites as (Punk) Zines,” we viewed handmade, self-written websites as a contemporary form of a punk zine. Just as punk and DIY cultures, photocopied zines, or self-published manifestos—using cheap tools, irreverent creativity, mutual aid, and underground distribution—rebelled against mass culture, a handmade website resists the uniformity of templates.

Part of the course was an excursion to Berlin with visits of:

Trust
Archive der Jugendkulutern e.V
Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv und Bibliothek Berlin e.V.
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Institut für Europäische Ethnologie