Austrian Arts Award 2016
In 2016, Schmiede received the Austrian Arts Award for Cultural Initiatives. The jury's statement captured what we've been building:
"Thus, Schmiede has established itself as what can be called-often used as a buzzword, yet so often remaining merely an assertion-a laboratory of the present that is open in all directions but by no means arbitrary."
Experience Schmiede - Ten days of pure creation
Schmiede Documentary - Hosted by Michael Hackl
From Failed Ambition to Playground (Since 2003)
Schmiede emerged from the ashes of a big, ambitious project that didn't work out. Since 2003, we've been something different-a place to try things out, to experiment without the pressure of success. What started as a reaction to failure evolved into a playground of ideas, where the process matters more than the product.
In the beginning, it was centered around club culture. I hosted workshops on 3D visuals using open source tools under Linux-bringing together the technical and the artistic in ways that weren't common back then. We were hackers in the truest sense: taking things apart to understand them, then building something new.
Bridging worlds through stories and systems
The DNA of Schmiede
By 2005, we shifted focus-using Schmiede to kickstart projects that would otherwise never exist. This is where the real experiments began:
Digital Confession Booth
A browser app questioning lost rituals, privacy, and the human need for absolution
Explore →SLAP
A bet that became YouTube's top-rated video worldwide
Explore →But the actual DNA of Schmiede-what makes it what it is today-was crystallized with SLAP. That project showed us that the most interesting things happen when you stop trying to control outcomes and start creating conditions for emergence.
1700
Browser game documenting Vienna's absurd police raid: 1,454 officers vs 19 squatters
Explore →Hebocon
The celebration of failure through shitty robot battles
Explore →Boxblitz
Physical-digital installation with punching bags exploring our combative relationship with technology
Explore →My Role in the Evolution
For many years, I was responsible for the network infrastructure and presentations-the invisible systems that make visible art possible. Think of it as building the stage while others perform, except the stage is also part of the performance.
Today, as head of finance, I ensure that this playground remains free. Not free as in "no cost," but free as in "freedom to fail." Because every year, 100+ makers come to Hallein not to succeed, but to try-and there have been years with over 300. In that trying, magic happens.
The Schmiede Method
Ten days. One old salt warehouse. No expectations.
Schmiede isn't a festival in the traditional sense-it's a state of mind. We create a bubble outside normal time, where artists, hackers, and thinkers can work on whatever calls to them. No pitches. No business plans. No success metrics. Just the pure act of creation.
The only rule: be present. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally. When you're at Schmiede, you're nowhere else. This intensity-this temporary autonomous zone-is where breakthroughs happen.
"Schmiede is not where you showcase what you can do. It's where you discover what you might become."
Interview with Michael Hackl
On the philosophy of productive failure and why the best festivals don't feel like festivals at all.
Listen to the interview →The Space Itself
A tour through the building as music video - Created at Schmiede