A chill hacking weekend in the mountains, where the devices are built...
A chill hacking weekend in the mountains, where the devices are built...
Filed from The Commons: a weekend in the mountains where the devices are built by hand and left outside overnight.
ferestecs is a small gathering run by The Generative Art Museum and Creative Coding Barcelona. The name is Catalan for wild, untamed places. It fits. For three days in March, a group of artists, engineers and curious people live together in a house in Cambrils dels Pirineus, outside Barcelona, and treat the surrounding landscape as a laboratory.
The next edition runs 6, 7 and 8 March 2026. It is led by Andy Quitmeyer, who runs Dinalab and has spent years teaching people to build tools for watching animals. He will show the group how to make mothboxes and camera traps. Participants can also propose their own device if they have one in mind.
What makes it different is the rhythm. No fixed schedule sits on the wall. Days move between short workshops, collective walks and long stretches of open hacking time. Mornings start by walking out to collect whatever was left in the field overnight, so the walk itself becomes part of the method. Nights are slower: dinner, films, and live coding jams that grow out of whoever is in the room.
The work is deliberately unfinished. The devices are built to observe, not to ship. They watch nocturnal creatures, animal traces, and the small shifts in a landscape that most people never notice. A prototype may fail. That is fine, and the organisers say so plainly. Curiosity counts for more than expertise here, and no coding or electronics background is required.
The whole thing costs 200 euros, and that covers everything: materials and shared tools, transport to and from Barcelona, accommodation in the house, and all meals. Spots are capped at 14, and the previous edition sold out.
It is organised by The Generative Art Museum and Creative Coding Barcelona, with support from the Culture Department of the Government of Catalonia. To read the full detail and apply, see the event page at https://ferestecs.cat.