The word is on the street: the Chaos Computer Club is hosting 40C3 from 27 to 30 December 2026 – Europe’s biggest hacker party, conference and platform for technology, society and civil liberties. We understand the Congress to be a huge shared stage and therefore invite you to help shape it. The Call for Participation for talks, the entertainment programme, art, punk and music opens today.
Everything is getting bigger, more colourful and more beautiful. Following our moving to the Hamburg Exhibition halls, there is once again plenty of space for creative ideas. Obviously, we want to make the most of this new space, which is why we are inviting all galactic beings to the 40th Chaos Communication Congress from 27 to 30 December 2026.
With the idea of this year’s motto ‘Model Citizens’ in mind, we want to work together to find new models for society, now that the ‘Model Citizens’ of the past have left the planet in a precarious state. There are loads of ways to go about this. For example, the Congress is the biggest non-commercial hacker conference, organised by volunteers, supported by thousands of unpaid helpers and over 16,000 visitors who don’t just passively consume the event, but actively help to shape it.
Times have become harsher. The consensus that, in a democratic society, we should work in solidarity towards a shared, better future is increasingly giving way to the model of an authoritarian state, in which the stronger impose their views on the weaker. Personal commitment and a sense of responsibility are taking a back seat to the call for a strong hand that is supposed to make everything ‘great again’. The remaining liberal forces are fighting rearguard actions and no longer attempt to create something new, but merely to prevent things from getting worse.
We see things differently, with a more combative spirit: the Congress was and remains the model for how things can be different. Differences are seen as an asset, the unfamiliar as a source of inspiration, and mutual needs as an opportunity to create a sense of community in which everyone feels comfortable and welcome.
For our time-honoured lecture programme at 40C3, we are calling for speakers to respond to our Call for Content; we are also reaching out to DJs and musicians to bring their talents to our lounge and party stages. Artists and designers can apply via our Call for Art with exhibits, sculptures and performances that do not require a stage. For our Punk-Späti, we’re looking for accomplices and fellow troublemakers for anarchic and anti-fascist performances in our usual warm yet rough-and-ready atmosphere.