The Center for Concrete and Abstract Machine and Peripheral Study is hosting a Chicago-based meeting of Processing Community Day in October 2026. We’ll be celebrating 25 years of Processing with workshops, talks, and presentations at Co-Prosperity in Bridgeport.

PCD Chicago 2026: EMERGENCE + IMPROVISATION:

PCD Chicago 2026 is a one-day event hosted by CCAM and Peripheral Study bringing together artists, designers, and educators at any level interested in using creative code in their artistic practices or curricula. We are gathering around the topics of Emergence and Improvisation to explore the possibilities of handwritten code in enabling new possibilities for artistic creation.

The event will feature introductory workshops using p5.js, an accessible, browser-based programming tool, to create audiovisual art. Participants may choose workshop topics such as typography and Risograph printing, vector graphics and pen plotter, real-time video audio-visual composition, and 3D graphics/shaders. Additionally, event participants will come together in “fishbowl”-style discussions and community building around their own usage of computational tools in their creative practices and in the classroom. The day’s proceedings will close with a celebration of our creative outputs through live audio-visual performances (e.g. live coding, DJ/VJ performances) along with a gallery display of participants’ creations.

We are finalizing a date but are targeting a Saturday or Sunday in October 2026. We are working with the venue Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport but have the nascent ALMANAC project space in Humboldt Park as a possible host site.

PCD Chicago’s ambition is to create a sense of community in Chicago for people interested in and working in creative coding, scaffold conversations about learning and making with these tools, and to celebrate the ingenuity of artists and educators in a collaborative environment.

Any questions can be sent to pcd@ccam.world