Garage of Digitality
The Garage of Digitality builds a bridge between the analog, digital and physical worlds. In interaction with the spaces on the garage campus, the possibilities of virtual and digital practices can be experienced here and made accessible and usable for larger parts of the population. The Garage of Digitality is a space for present and future digitality: from the first small steps in the digital (introduction to smartphone use for seniors), to consciously acting in virtual space (hiking day in space for children, 3D workshop and virtual class trip for teenagers), to limitless experimentation (applied research and experimental art), it maps different dimensions of digitality and connects them with each other. Part of the concept is to connect the actors in the field of digitality in the Chemnitz region in order to make better use of the current potential in this field (for example 5 Sides Cave, wohnXperium, Human-Machine-Interaction-Lab) and to achieve more together. In addition, the possibilities of virtual collaboration offer opportunities for cross-regional, European networking to a particular degree.
The Garage of Digitality is being designed as a hybrid place rooted in both the virtual and the physical world. In the spirit of “user-centered science,” citizens will work here with scientists and entrepreneurs on the future of virtual and interactive technologies. Local companies and administrations can use the infrastructure of the Garage of Digitality for their own purposes. For example, telepresence rooms could contribute to sustainability, or a usability lab could help develop more user-friendly applications.
The Garage of Digitality also focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration. The aim is to develop innovations in areas such as education, participation, collaboration, networking or even inclusion by combining previously separated disciplines. The Garage of Digitality supports the latter in particular by enabling sensory experiences and changes of perspective that are unknown to most people. Virtual, multisensory and interactive environments enable lifelike simulations – of physical limitations, for example – which then make it possible to literally feel what inclusion can mean. But history and homeland can also be experienced anew in virtuality, for example by making historical buildings and events walkable and experienceable. The same applies to art and culture: digital concerts, e-sports, hackathons, events, exhibitions, performances, installations – as diverse as the possibilities of the digital are, so are the offerings and activities in the garage of digitality.