Lens is changing and expanding. The cultural imprint in the network is diverse and full of substance, and it informs the design choices we make for the future. In line with this, and in order to showcase the garden of ideas that’s currently in bloom, we’re proud to introduce afk.
afk is a series of events starting in Berlin, during the Berlin Blockchain Week and ETHBerlin. The Berlin edition will celebrate a big milestone announcement for Lens, but has also been strategically designed to bring people together to celebrate the Lens ecosystem and the community of thinkers, designers, creators and technologists around it. We aim to create a sanctuary to feed your mind, body, and soul during busy conferences.
afk aims to be versatile and adapt to every city we’re in. Berlin is a no-BS, über cool place that is home to a multitude of blockchain projects and some of the most interesting artists that have been converging here from around the world for more than 40 years. Inspired by the pulse of the city, we’ve curated a diverse set of sessions and experiences.
The topics of the talks for afk Berlin will cover a wide range of topics, from crypto-politics, anonymity, privacy, social digital spaces and financial spaces, scalability and cultural actors and their role on the building of technology.
Our speakers are:
- Dr. Jaya Klara-Brekke: Chief Strategy Officer at NYM, building privacy-preserving infrastructure for our highly surveilled digital lives
- Simon Denny: Artist and professor at HBFK Hamburg. Simon’s artwork explores systems of power and influence within present technologies.
- Stani Kulechov: Founder of Aave and Lens, CEO at Avara. Avara’s vision is a people-powered internet that benefits all.
- Alex Gluchowski: co-inventor of zkSync, co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs. Alex's passion lies in using technology to advance personal freedom, self-ownership, and decentralization.
- Abbey Titcomb: technologist, governance researcher, product strategist, and community developer/leader. Works at Radworks. Board member of the Better Internet Foundation and Optimism Foundation.
- Billy Rennekamp: Entrepreneur-in-Residence at 1kx, founder of Trifle Labs, Folia, and Clovers Network. Previously core contributor at Cosmos.
- María Paula Fernández: Growth at Avara. Previously co-founder at JPG, a curation protocol, and Department of Decentralization/ETHBerlin.
- Rafathebuilder: Insatiable community explorer, researcher and cultural commentator.
- Sarah Friend: artist, researcher and software engineer. Board of Directors and formerly smart contracts lead at Circles UBI, a blockchain-based community currency that aims to lead to a more equal distribution of wealth.
- Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: is an Animator/Artist and games developer working predominantly in digital media to communicate the experiences of being a Black Trans person.
- Sam Hart: head of product and strategy at Skip Protocol, co-founder of Timewave Labs. Sam’s also part of the Other Internet squad, Folia, and maintainer of the Berlin Cybernetics Library.
afk Berlin aims to provide a holistic experience that will continue to feed your mind beyond the ideas of the aforementioned meeting of the minds,pop-up experiences by Lens ecosystem actors t2, $BONSAI and Orb will showcase the best of Lens, delicious and nourishing food will be there for your enjoyment, and DJ and producer Sound of Fractures will serenade us. We hope that this afternoon afk will offer a much-needed reflection and nourishment break in an otherwise hectic week.
See you afk.