Digital Partizans · Pavl Kopylkov

The work

Digital Partizans imagines a partisan movement adapted to a future in which communication infrastructure can be switched off by the state. Its members still withdraw into forests, but instead of weapons they carry laptops, smartphones and Meshtastic devices.

Meshtastic allows text messages to travel over long distances without mobile networks or internet access. In the performance, several participants occupy separate wooded areas in Berlin and communicate through this independent mesh network while spectators observe the exchange.

The familiar figure of the partisan is transferred from armed resistance to control over communication. The project asks what autonomy might mean when access to networks has become a political condition, and whether a community can remain connected when the infrastructure on which everyday digital life depends is no longer available.

Digital Partizans turns an existing low-tech communication system into a rehearsal for staying in contact after the network disappears.

The festival

Emigration to the Future was an interdisciplinary festival that took place in Berlin-Wedding, 7–9 August 2026, bringing together artists, performers and researchers from seven countries working across performance, installation, video, sound and public intervention. Curated by Vsevolod Lisovsky and Anton Polski (MAKE / Citizen Make), across venues including exBrache, Chto Delat and public space around Wedding.

emigrationtothefuture.org · Telegram: @emigrationtothefuture

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