“Vibe coding” is changing who gets to build technology. For the 2026 SXSW festival, the Human Rights Foundation wanted to showcase how this emerging technology can help political dissidents strengthen their movements.
The challenge was to make an abstract technological shift tangible. Rather than presenting AI as a futuristic technology, the experience needed to demonstrate its practical potential through participation.
ESC Tyranny transformed vibe coding into a hands-on experience by inviting visitors to build their own digital tools. Videos of real-world movements using vibe-coded applications to mobilize, document abuses and communicate under repression connected this act of making to a larger story of technology as resistance. Visitors moved from seeing → understanding → making. Making a complex technology immediate, accessible, and actionable, ESC Tyranny showcased how Vibe coding can become a tool of resistance under repression.
Creative Director
