CfP: “Silicon Dawn: Creative Computing in Europe 1970–2000”

Europe has a shared yet divergent digital cultural heritage – from the hacker roots of the demoscene, to early networked art pioneers, to localised cultural and linguistic bubbles of games development, this collection provides original insights into the unique features that have shaped creative computing in Europe. 

Silicon Dawn: Histories and Cultures of Creative Computing in Europe (1970-2000) brings together a timely and authoritative body of research that explores the history and impact of Europe’s shared yet divergent digital cultural heritage.

With 18 core chapters, topics covered including the regional impacts of early internet and bulletin board systems, hardware and software hacking and homebrews, informal digital distribution networks through postal system and FM radio, digital art and the creativity of the demoscene, as well as videogame distribution and localisation throughout Europe.

Published in Print and Open Access as part of the Video Games and the Humanities series, De Gruyter Brill, Autumn 2026.

Editorial team:

• Natalija Majsova (University of Ljubljana),
• Kieran Nolan (Dundalk Institute of Technology),
• Alex Wade (Birmingham City University)