Th e Polish demoscene – between the past and the future. Conversation with Ł ukasz Sza ł ankiewicz


 
 
In 2021, the National Institute of Cultural Heritage approved the application to include the demoscene in the UNESCO National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Social Committee of the Polish Demoscene Chronicles was responsible for coordinating these activities. The organization aims to document and analyse traditions related to the domestic demoscene. The conversation between Marcin Pigulak (historian of digital games) and Łukasz Szałankiewicz (lecturer, multimedia artist and representative of the Polish Demoscene Chronicles) focuses on the history of the Polish demoscene, its specific nature compared to other digital cultures and contemporary strategies to preserve its heritage. 
 
 


Łukasz Szałankiewicz -lecturer, multimedia artist and representative of the Social Committee of the Polish Demoscene Chronicles.

Do you remember when you rst sat down in front of a computer?
Computers rst came into my life in , when I was aged eleven. Before that, I knew games from arcade machines, of course. At the time, I was living in Sanok in the Podkarpackie region. In hindsight, it was a rather provincial region on Poland's fringes, so new things didn't arrive as quickly as in the larger conurbations. My cousins, who owned an -bit Atari computer, used to invite me "to play games". I would usually either sit and watch them play or take turns playing with them. I remember that the rst game was River Raid. It wasn't until the early s that I came into contact with -bit computers and the rst PCs from Optimus.

So how did you come into contact with the demoscene?
By playing the games, well, actually by getting inside them, into their structure. Out of curiosity, I started checking the extra les on the oppy disks, reading about copying and all the basic processes. Although there was copyright law, until there were no laws that actually regulated the circulation of so ware -piracy was booming, so we rarely had the opportunity to play a game on the original disc. On such a oppy I found a couple of extra les that were completely di erent to the manufacturer's, and among them a crack intro [information about breaking the game's copy protection -M.P.]. Futuristic, let's call it cyberpunk, music was accompanied by dynamic colours and sinuous graphics composed of ASCII characters. I was fascinated but did not fully understand the essence of these productions. Even friends who had owned computers longer and come across them in almost every game thought they were just extra credits. en some friends came along with an Amiga, the dominant computer on the Polish market in the early s. I saw two demos at the time: State of the Art by the Scandinavian group Spaceballs and Technological Death by Mad Elks.[ ] ese were something like standalone music videos on two and one oppy disks. I soon noticed the same pattern: dominant music, greetings for other groups, logos and the use of ASCII. Some time later, a friend showed me a disk magazine called "Kebab", and I saw something that really surprised me: a kind of interactive publication on a oppy disk in Polish, with graphics and music. A er that I came across similar magazines that described all these demoscene dependencies, but also had their own sections devoted strictly to programming, music and games (although there were fewer and fewer of these as the demoscene developed); so this was a space for almost anyone interested in digital culture. en it became clear that there were many more of these productions for every computer platform.
It was in that I decided to get into this movement. Since other platforms -including Atari, Commodore, Amiga -already had an established community, I picked PCs. ough the rst attempts to organise around this platform date back to , it was in that people from various Polish cities began to create a fully-edged PC scene. e demoscene magazine Bad News became an important point of contact (and address database) for us.

How did the Polish demoscene evolve?
We didn't actually use the word 'demoscene'; it was simply a 'scene' . It was made up of a conglomeration of platforms that had their own speci cities and operated on the basis of healthy competition. I'm using the term 'demoscene' in the colloquial sense, but at the time 'scene' meant pretty much the same as 'community' . ere was a kind of subcultural approach to it, a reference to groups known for music, for example. is also true of the speci c, somewhat subversive understanding of digital art -di erent to that used by the critics, free of aesthetic canons and mainstream restrictions of 'whether it's appropriate' .
From the historical point of view, the rst activities on the national demoscene are related to such people as the hacker Chris, and the games that he hacked on the ZX Spectrum. He placed his demos next to games or presented them in the community. us, the rst forms of demonstrations were simple scrolls or music disks.[ ] Based on source research, I've traced the beginnings of these activities back to . However, the rst groups creating a computer demoscene were formed in . ese include Quartet on the Commodore , which serves as a model group -moving away from game-breaking practices to artistic activities. By this time, other line-ups were already forming, but it was Quartet that started making demos, publishing magazines or organising the rst estate parties. e fruit of their work includes "Kebab" magazine, which I mentioned earlier.
Ultimately, platforms are still the basis for discussing the demoscene's output. We mainly had ZX Spectrum, Atari, Commodore/Amiga and PCs. We didn't have an Amstrad scene because that platform didn't catch on in Poland. Another division is based on the di erence between -bit and -bit computers for some of the brands I've mentioned. e -bit Atari Falcon, for example, did appear, but it was a bit of a lost child. For a while there was a craze for things like GameBoy, but the scene didn't develop and actually wasn't fully de ned. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert on the console scene (because there is one in existence), but the impact of their activities on the Polish demoscene is not great.
As the Social Committee of the Polish Demoscene Chronicles, you see the demoscene as being the rst and most important digital culture in the country. What aspects of it do you consider the most important? e rst thing to do is to de ne Polish gamedev in the s and s -not so much through the prism of games, but through the people who made them. Demoscene players had digital competences -the ability to programme, create, etc. is made them the natural progenitors of Poland's emergent computerisation. ey understood the intricacies of IT and were among the few who knew how to do something in an assembler, and how to solve certain programming problems in a practical and innovative way. With limited documentation and no internet, these were key skills. e more artistically gi ed among them ended up in the development studios that were appearing at the time, raising the overall level of Polish games. e scene also gave us many musicians and graphic designers who are still active in their professions today.
We can talk about the demoscene in terms of disseminating digital creations: graphics or music modules (functioning as add-ons on oppy disks and CDs, preceding the MP format). Some members of the demoscene tried their hand at writing viruses, which were more funny than malicious, testing the capabilities of the security measures at that time (to the bene t of the knowledge of system owners). e demoscene started out as a youth subculture but has evolved into an alternative culture as its members have grown up. is is material for an academic discussion on whether the demoscene is a subculture or not; in my opinion, it is an alternative culture, but with more of a countercultural bent. In the case of the demoscene, one very important determinant was having its own language -a very speci c one, with its own dynamics, similar in spirit to communication within hacker or cracker groups. On Polish soil, it served as a prototype of emoticons. Transferred over time to IRC channels (the rst social chat rooms) and student forums, they then permeated a wider group of digital users.
It's commonly held that the essence of the demoscene remains its symbol: demo. e dictionary version describes this acronym as 'a demo version of a computer programme' . Doesn't that exhaust the speci cs of the term from your perspective?
It is a type of programme designed to demonstrate the capabilities of a particular computer platform -or rather to transcend the apparent system-so ware barrier of that platform. Something is created that theoretically shouldn't be possible, something that the hardware developers did not predict. From the perspective of the s and s, it was important to explore the technology as much as possible, but the central idea was to cross barriers. Computer demonstrations -seen as productions or texts of digital culture -symbolised such practices.

Bearing in mind the formal or content speci city of demos, can we produce a typology of them?
It's clear that each and every platform had a di erent approach to their activity. Earlier I mentioned music disks on the ZX Spectrum; although they don't formally perform the functions identi ed with demos, they are seen as such by the community. Another issue relates to length. Demos that were long and demonstrated coding capabilities based on a number of di erent e ects are itemised as megademos. At the same time, there was already 'competition' for them in the form of shorter demonstrations, which we call intros [intro; a presentation of a computer's capabilities -note M.P.]. eir standard volume became kilobytes, and in these kilobytes you had to include everything, including graphics and music. In fact, there were special competitions in this area. is was an extra challenge for those who made standard demos. is 'challenge' aspect of the demoscene concerned smaller and smaller values over time -kilobytes and now even bytes.
You mentioned the subcultural nature of the demoscene. Is social or political engagement characteristic of this community, for example?
Demoscene creative work rarely contains a clearly de ned message. You usually don't nd a commentary that could convey the creators' worldview. It was originally intended as an audiovisual presentation that could be liked or disliked, and which an individual might have a better or worse understanding of. To outsiders, it looked like a music video or animation.
However, there are groups that are able to communicate speci c content. is usually manifests itself through the use of a particular style that guarantees recognition. ere are also attempts to prove that the demo is 'about something' a er all. Yet these attempts at committed creativity are relatively rare. Where the main e ort is put into transcending technical limitations, the story is added value. From the fairly recent stu [ -note M.P.], I recommend the Lamers group's Cyberpunk demo on Atari or the Samar group on C about magic mushrooms (Amanita, ). On the PC, on the other hand, there was the group Hypnotize, which in the s dealt with topics such as schizophrenia, epilepsy or claustrophobia.

Which Polish demos from the s -the heyday of the trendenjoyed the greatest success on the international stage?
So far, demoscene fans have referred to the Mad Elks' Technological Death [ -note M.P.]; it was a demo for the Amiga, which contained all the most popular solutions of the time, and which stood out from other Polish demos. e second such title was e Asskicker, which came out for the -bit Atari ( ). What caused a shock was the generation of graphics and transitions, previously used in the game Doom. Another example of a group that was popular internationally is Pulse from Wrocław (PC), which co-operated with Western formations and won international events. Paradoxically, some set-ups had to wait a little longer for their heyday. e Commodore scene, which hibernated a little in the late s, has revived in recent years. It now enjoys widespread international recognition.
As a rule, the home-grown demoscene followed the models operating in other countries, which was down to their universality. Otherwise, the products of the Polish demoscene would not have appeared on the world stage either. "Polishness" in the content of demos was mostly expressed in accents: musical references, vocals in Polish, graphic quotations, etc. e demoparty is considered to be the beating heart of the scene.

Can research into its participants and the content it generated expand the picture of s Polish digital culture?
Sure. We can see the origins of such meetings right at the dawn of the national scene, back in . Originally, these were gatherings of people interested in a particular platform; you could argue that this was where they watched the rst western demos or intros. Tn line with the trend at the time, the rst parties were called 'copyparties'. ey consisted of copying various types of so ware: games, application programmes, as well as demoscene products. In the West, the rst parties of this type took the form of competitions combined with crack intro shows. e rst successful Polish parties, with voting, results being announced etc., were the All Stars Party in Gdańsk ( ) and the more Amiga-like Luzers and Joker Team Copy-Party in Gdynia ( ). e rst Polish PC party was organised in in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski. Interestingly, parties in Poland didn't just mean in big cities; they were also provincial centres. e venue was mainly determined by the authority of the organiser. is created interesting practices; in a world without the internet, demoscene people travelled around Poland, got to know each other, voted for the demos they saw, wrote reports for magazines and prepared for their next trips. A list of all the groups and parties is included in the Futuris group demo.[ ]

From the point of view of the PC scene, for example, what did the ideal demoparty look like?
Every platform had its own events and rhythm for organising them. Generally, they lasted from one to several days, depending on the 'processing capacity' of the organiser. At rst, the venues that were rented or shared were mainly schools. e basis was having the right equipment: for example, a projector to which a computer was connected and a screen where demos were displayed. e party had to have its own dynamics to keep the participants occupied in some way. is also applied to social games like 'Pepsi drinking competitions' with oppy disk prizes. ey introduced elements of party culture into the community. e most important thing happened late in the day, when competitions devoted to particular aspects (music, graphics) or formats (intros, demos) were run. e community's response to the demos was checked by voting, with marks written on cards. e scores were counted by the organisers, and the results were announced the following morning. e winners occasionally received physical prizes (e.g. graphics cards), and more o en symbolic prizes in the form of a 'handshake from the chairman' . Today's demoparties somewhat ironically hark back to those days, with the winners being awarded a plastic statuette or a framed certi cate. Basically, the community does not modify the key elements of the demoparty because they are treated as parts of a universal, transnational digital demoscene culture. I suggest that the only element that distinguishes Polish demoparties from others is the spontaneity of participants and their openness to integration. A person who sees the demoscene through the prism of a culture of 'quiet geeks' could be very surprised.
Every golden age is usually followed by a crisis; the demoscene has also experienced such a bump. e core of the demoscene is its community. You also have to be active in some way within it, positioning yourself, and the rivalry that plays out between groups is also important. A healthy rivalry, I might add (it's the only community that welcomes competitors in demos, even if the rival groups don't know each other). is competition -to be the best, to be appreciated -was de ned by the disk magazines and charts sections. Users regularly voted by lling in les on oppy disks and sending them in. is made the demosceners aware of their importance on a local or international level. e magazines lled the community gaps between demoparties. e decline in both activities can be seen as a litmus test of the vitality of the scene. Based on my research, I conclude that the complete collapse of demoscene initiatives took place between and . I suspect that this is related to people who were previously active entering adulthood in the broadest sense: work, family, etc.
Let's remember that the demoscene was a niche creation. e last intake was in the early st century. e demoscene was essentially trying to be visible, but PR-wise it wrung its own neck through its hermeticity; considering itself an elitist form of digital culture, operating in a language that was incomprehensible to outsiders. All of this meant that the latest 'intake' had to be given time to implement and start creating unique things, while the advanced ones got their lives in order. e problem now is that there are few candidates from today's young generation.

When did part of the community decide to become 'curators of memory' and set up the Social Committee of the Polish Demoscene Chronicles?
It was born spontaneously in the minds of a few people a few years ago. For my part, I had the need to understand all the demoscene relationships -its beginnings, de nitions, etc. I asked myself: Why did I dedicate my life as a young person to this community? As the administrator of the Facebook discussion group Demoscene PL, I started to simulate the group in this spirit: to establish the facts and nuances related to the activities of demoscene groups. Soon a erwards, together with Andrzej Lichnerowicz and Kaja Mikoszewska, we created a core in the form of the Chronicle of Polish Demoscene. We invited other people specialising in their elds to join us. Our goal was to o cially get the Polish demoscene entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It took us two years to prepare the application, generate a favourable attitude from all demoscene platforms and carry out research (establishing the chronology, selecting demos). Interestingly, in keeping with the demoscene spirit, we held a vote in which the community selected representative demos. ese were presented before a committee.

What arguments do you need to use to unite an environment renowned for its divisions?
Divisions used to be folklore and are now a memory of folklore. e modern demoscene is more multiplatform, and demoparties tend to 'mix' di erent platforms. So, in general, the idea was to select those people who bond these communities and ask for their support in reaching a consensus. We decided to bring the community together by nding partners, including the gaming press, research units or developers with a demoscene pedigree. We became too big to be negated or ignored by any possible malcontents. At the same time, we were open to opinions from the community coming through social media and Discord channels.
What was also important was the fact that as people known for their activities for the demoscene we operated under the auspices of a social committee -a grassroots initiative with no formal hierarchy and no interest in nancial activities. I sometimes joke that our fundraising could at amount at most to initiatives like constructing a 'Floppy Disk Monument' . e Committee's concept is based on things such as archiving, curatorial and popularisation activities. Which of these do you consider to be key?
Due to the nature of the Committee and its democratic way of governing, activities are spread out over time. We monitor what is happening in the demoscene and know where the largest concentrations of sources for a given platform are located. e challenge is to collect and group them, to get a space that would ensure the sustainability of media and digital storage. e Ministry [Ministry of Culture and National Heritage -note M.P.] has o ered us such a space -free and accessible to all -in the Kronik@ portal. However, obtaining material from private individuals means adopting the appropriate strategy and taking into account the speci c nature of the sources. So, we are at the stage of working out the principles for cooperation with representatives of the demoscene and creating a collection that will not depend on the goodwill of individuals. In recent years, we have digitised a lot of demos on our own; most -especially PC productions -are on our YouTube channel.[ ] What's more, we have selected the best demos from other platforms and ranked them by year. As for popularisation activities, we have created a timeline of the Polish demoscene[ ] and prepared the basics of a demoscene dictionary.[ ] We regularly participate in events related to the promotion of digital culture.
How do you see the purpose of fostering the memory of the demoscene's heritage when today's young people belong to a di erent digital culture? e core of the today's demoscene are the ' plus' people. I think that for at least a decade veterans will be e ective in stimulating the memory of the demoscene. e second concept is to nd a common language with young people by presenting the demoscene ethos when promoting modern programming tools; creating demos using modern engines (Unity, Unreal) or ShaderToy. ere are special, dedicated events where young people compete to music in order to create an object for a speci c slogan (say: 'elephant'). With the freedom of form, real-time design of creative work and professional commentary, such events are closer to an e-sports formula. Personally, this is where my hopes lie for the demoscene developing as an alternative culture -in a synergy of past and future.