Chaos Computer Congress - Berlin 2007
In December 2007 I visited the Chaos Computer Congress in Berlin. I’m convinced that hackers and urban explorers share the same mindset, since they’re always searching for unexpected results. During this three day trip I was able to enjoy both worlds.

This is an experimental trip report - I was positively stimulated by one member of the UER.ca forum who called my texts “boring”. So I try to use the absolute minimum of words here. Does it work?
The brochure said: “The cash desk will open on the 26th of December. Experience has shown that there's always a long queue on the first day of the congress. Avoid waiting by getting your ticket the evening before.” - Still I had to wait two hours or more. (Berlin Alexanderplatz)
I stayed in Ibis Hotel Ostbahnhof and next morning I was pleasantly surprised with this cityscape. (Paula-Thiede Ufer)

I had seen that place in 2003, during a train journey to Prague and had never expected I would get so close to it.

Walking to the Berlin Congress Centre was like coming home ... Berlin is a real city, with all the grime and ragged edges that make a city worth while.

Rotterdam is much too clean! Actually ... all of Holland is much too ordered. You could say we have no real cities here at all. (Köpenicker Strasse)
Even the “normal” parts of the city have that urban exploration feeling. (Klosterstrasse, Rungestrasse)
The busy congress schedule didn’t leave much time for exploration, but I made it a habit to walk most of the time and to take a new path every day.

Crossing under the railway line revealed yet another urban landscape. A few buildings were deserted, but not worth the trouble of sneaking inside. (Andreasstrasse, Lange Strasse, Krautstrasse)
But it was especially this group of building - clearly visible from the metro - that kept pulling at me. First I tried to get in from the wrong side of the tracks. (Michaelkirchstrasse)
I ended up in a semi-wild urban terrain where squatter artists lived in wooden mobile homes. It looked very nomadic, free and inviting. I had the feeling that whole families lived there with their children. I didn’t want to invade their privacy, so I didn't explore too much. (Schwarzer Kanal, Michaelkirchstrasse)
Meanwhile at the conference talks were going on and attendance was great. During most of the talks all seats were full and people had to sit on the floor. Some talks sparked new rivalries and controversies like the Nmap - Unicornscan - Portbunny performance debate, that’s still going on now.
Soldering a kit that remotely shut off televisions was a great success. All were sold out and the MediaMarkt outlet store opposite the congress centre banned all hackers from the store, because they all were testing it on their TV’s.

I took only a picture of the Lego Mindstorms table - there was also a lockpicking table but people there didn’t want their picture taken. Taking pictures of hackers was heavily discouraged.

I had planned to do a workshop in “High frequency sniffing”, where you built a GHz receiver. But then I saw the tiny surface mounted components that we were supposed to solder and I gave up almost immediately. I spent the money on a weird book about helicopters.
The coolest project were these remote controlled drones. Some were even equipped with video camera’s and could be used for remote reconnaissance. They were battery powered and could stay in the air for 20 minutes. I think you could buy the electronics for 250 euro.
Meanwhile I saw this 60’s pop-art installation during my walks. I only know this kind of art from books. This was the fence of another squatter anti-capitalist settlement. I was told they had a bar open on Friday evenings. (Köpenicker Strasse)
During the same walk I found this ... is it real? Is it art? It is funny in a weird way ...

Hey, beautiful Norwegian guy whose name I don’t know!

We met last friday in LUX and then went to KATO. You simply vanished while I was puking on the toilet because you put something funny in my DRINK.

Remember me? I would like to meet you again.

See you. Alfrun.

On the last day I finally found how to get near the deserted factory buildings. And I understood that the whole area was some kind of squatter’s haven and that it was under threat. So if you want to look at the factory, you’d better be quick.

A great talk about "guerilla knitting". Did you know that knitting has close parallels to Open Source? And another great talk about hacking the British ATM cards. You can do it for 500 dollars!
I saw a lot of original street art in Berlin. The "space invader" has lost some tiles, but it's still recognizeable. (Karl-Liebknecht Strasse, Stralauer Platz)
While waiting for the train I explored the magnificent Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It is huge and has some interesting back-alleys and nooks and crannies. A lot of “entrance forbidden” doors had been left open.
Strange Places
Underground Places
Urban Adventure Home 		© Petr Kazil

January 2008