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Museum partners with Vectorform to co-host a 34-hour digital development contest
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (April 20, 2015) – In partnership with Detroit-based Vectorform, The Dalí Museum will co-host a Hackathon, a collaborative challenge in which up-and-coming software developers and designers combine efforts to develop cutting-edge digital solutions. Teams of 3-5, largely consisting of college and grad-students, have the goal of using the latest technology and hardware to create a solution that will enhance the Museum experience – either virtually or on-site – influenced by the creative genius that exemplified the stars of The Museum’s current exhibit, Salvador Dalí and Leonardo da Vinci. Named “Project 34,” the 34-hour event will begin Saturday, May 2nd at 8:13 a.m. and conclude Sunday, May 3rd at 6:13 p.m., a timeframe inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, which both Dalí and da Vinci used heavily in their art.
Hackathons have become popular in recent years, typically taking place across college campuses and in the heart of Silicon Valley. The Dalí Museum and Vectorform, a 15-year-old tech company that invents digital products and experiences for the world’s leading brands, have partnered in what will be the first-ever hackathon hosted by a national museum and a global innovation company to create something completely unique in the world of hackathons. Both The Dalí and Vectorform pride themselves on driving cutting-edge programming and solutions, making this partnership a natural fit.
“The Dalí Museum serves to inspire creative thinking on all levels and across genres,” said Kathy Greif, Marketing Director of The Dalí Museum. “Our goal with this event is to create a platform for groundbreaking ideas, in the same vein as Dalí and da Vinci.”
Throughout the weekend, The Dalí is open to the public during regular Museum hours. The Museum’s Community Room and other open spaces will be transformed into a variety of workstations, break rooms, dining locations and sleeping areas. Approximately 100 individuals will participate in the competition and utilize the latest hardware provided by Major League Hacking (MLH), the official student Hackathon league, to create their design. During the event, participants will periodically join in “Sequences” – activities to help boost their creativity and relax the mind; and the public will be invited to participate in “Innovation Sprints,” fun, hands-on contests taking place at 12:13pm, 2:13pm, and 4:13pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
“If you want to be truly on the bleeding edge of innovation, you have to be comfortable with being the first to try new things and push the boundaries – and this unprecedented event has certainly done that, and the response has been beyond anything we anticipated,” said Daphne Zargar, Chief Strategist at Vectorform. “Merging art and innovation makes sense for this unprecedented Hackathon, and being in the midst of some of the world’s greatest inventors and innovative thinkers in this incredible environment at The Dalí will help inspire raw creativity.”
The teams will have 32 hours to develop their code, with the final two hours reserved for presentations to a panel of judges and the awards ceremony. Judges include CEOs and CTOs from Malwarebytes, Vectorform, KForce, DTE Energy and KnowBe4. First, second and third place winners will be selected, based on their project’s technical achievement, ubiquity, design, innovation, and surrealism. The event will wrap-up Sunday evening with an awards party for the participants and sponsors in The Dalí’s Avante-garden – complete with a live DJ spinning tunes via Silent Storm wireless headsets. For more information, visit TheDali.org/hackathon.
About The Dalí Museum
The Dalí Museum, located in the heart of beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, is home to an unparalleled collection of Salvador Dalí art, featuring more than 2,000 works comprising nearly 100 oil paintings; over 100 watercolors and drawings; and 1,300 prints, photographs, sculptures and objets d’art.
The building is itself a work of art, featuring 1,062 triangular-shaped glass panels – the only structure of its kind in North America. Nicknamed The Enigma, it provides an unprecedented view of St. Petersburg’s picturesque waterfront. The Museum has attracted the world’s attention, and among the other distinguished awards it has received, it was listed by AOL Travel News as “one of the top buildings to see in your lifetime.”
The Dalí Museum is located at One Dalí Boulevard, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701. For additional information contact 727.823.3767.
About Vectorform
Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, Vectorform has five global offices across the US, Europe and Asia and approximately 120 employees. Vectorform is an innovation consultancy and digital experience company focusing on The Internet of Things, connected home, connected vehicle, human machine interaction and wearable technology.
Platform and industry agnostic, Vectorform works on the bleeding edge of innovation with solutions ranging anywhere from Augmented Reality experiences for the BMW i8, to mobile apps for autism spectrum placement for Kaiser Permanente to real-time energy consumption and cost analysis through smart meters with DTE Energy.
Vectorform is located at 123 W. 5th Street, Royal Oak, MI 48067. For additional information contact 248.777.7777 or visit vectorform.com.