The Demoscene: from digital subculture to UNESCO intangible cultural heritage

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dc.contributor.authorFurman, Ivo
dc.contributor.authorErdikmen, Arda
dc.date.accessioned2026-04-04T18:55:40Z
dc.date.available2026-04-04T18:55:40Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.departmentİstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi
dc.description.abstractThe Demoscene is a transnational digital culture that, since the 1980s, has fused programming, artistic experimentation, and community collaboration in the production of 'demos', short audiovisual programs designed to push hardware and software to their limits. Emerging from the intertwined worlds of home computing and software piracy, it developed into a semi-autonomous field of cultural production governed by its own hierarchies, evaluative logics, and forms of capital. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural fields, this article traces the Demoscene's evolution from exclusionary elite - lamer distinctions towards more inclusive practices that continue to prize technical, aesthetic, and social capital. It then considers the 2019 Art of Coding initiative, an effort to secure UNESCO intangible cultural heritage recognition, as a key episode that illustrates how community outreach actors bridged the Demoscene's peer-driven values with institutional frameworks. While UNESCO recognition introduces symbolic capital that enhances the scene's visibility and legitimacy within cultural and heritage sectors, it also provokes ambivalence among participants who fear that external validation may erode grassroots autonomy. The article argues that the Demoscene exemplifies how digital subcultures negotiate institutional recognition, showing that heritage frameworks can expand visibility and protection without displacing the peer-driven logics of distinction that sustain them.
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/13527258.2025.2595079
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/13527258.2025.2595079
dc.identifier.endpage434
dc.identifier.issn1352-7258
dc.identifier.issn1470-3610
dc.identifier.issue3
dc.identifier.scopus2-s2.0-105023386445
dc.identifier.scopusqualityQ1
dc.identifier.startpage418
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2025.2595079
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11411/10520
dc.identifier.volume32
dc.identifier.wosWOS:001627374000001
dc.identifier.wosqualityQ2
dc.indekslendigikaynakWeb of Science
dc.indekslendigikaynakScopus
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherRoutledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd
dc.relation.ispartofInternational Journal of Heritage Studies
dc.relation.publicationcategoryMakale - Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi - Kurum Öğretim Elemanı
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.snmzKA_WoS_20260402
dc.snmzKA_Scopus_20260402
dc.subjectDemoscene
dc.subjectDigital Culture
dc.subjectCultural Fields
dc.subjectIntangible Cultural Heritage
dc.subjectArt Of Coding Initiative
dc.subjectUnesco
dc.subjectBourdieu
dc.titleThe Demoscene: from digital subculture to UNESCO intangible cultural heritage
dc.typeArticle

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