TOPLAP Strasbourg

Live coding is making music and images by writing code in front of an audience, and changing it while it runs. In Strasbourg it grew from a handful of evenings around a beer and Sonic Pi at L’Elastic Bar, open to anyone who brought a laptop, into a community that now has its own events, its own tools and, since the twelfth Chaos Lab in July 2026, its own association.

It is part of TOPLAP, the international network of live coders, and its doors stay open: no prior knowledge needed, laptops and headphones lent when needed, prices always free or pay-what-you-can.

What happens

• Workshops, every couple of weeks at the Shadok, and at Perestroika, La Grenze and elsewhere: an introduction for newcomers and a theme for everyone else (sound synthesis, filters, feedback, audio-reactive visuals, esoteric languages, letting the audience into the performance).
• Jam sessions, where whoever turns up plays together on shared code.
• Chaos Lab, the evenings where local live coders share the stage with guests from Karlsruhe, Lyon, Prague, Slovenia, Lomé or Medellín.
• Tools and resources on the community’s site: a list of live-coding environments, and small web pieces made for the workshops.