PRINTING, GAMING, TINKERING, OH MY : THE RISE OF MAKER CULTURE

MUSEUM INNOVATIONS

BY: JAIME CLIFTON-ROSS

In adopting a constructivist attitude, where the act of learning-through-doing is key, maker culture blends the experimental approach of DIY crafting with technology. Through digital fabrication, interactive design, physical computing, adaptive gaming, and more, this creative cultural movement is making waves in both the academic and museum worlds! Science centres and children museums, in particular, have embraced these hands-on activities through cutting-edge interactive displays. Gaming in history museums and academic hackathons are now a popular method for education and engagement. Some of the most innovative maker initiatives in Canada are coming out of our very own Semaphore Critical Making Lab, at the University of Toronto's iSchool, as well as the Maker Lab in the University of Victoria's Humanities Department. Today, I offer you a small selection of cool and cutting-edge maker projects (not in any particular order)

1. PRINTABILITY: Semaphore Critical Making Lab at the University of Toronto's iSchool

Professor Matt Ratto and PhD Candidate ginger coons are leading a team of researchers in the development of 3D-printed limbs for children in Uganda. They were even featured on the CBC!

3D-Printed Limbs at the iSchool's Semaphore Lab, Photo by Semaphore Lab

2. FEMBOX: By Nina Belojevic and Theresa Slater for Integrate Arts Festival in Victoria, BC

"Through console-like play the piece combines multiple elements: the clearly material — physical controllers, glimpses into the “black box” showing wires and component parts — with the seemingly ephemeral — lights, projections, invisible processes; the electronic with the biological; the technological with the bodily" (Fembox Webpage 2015).

FEMBOX from Theresa Slater on Vimeo.

Playing with Fembox, Photo by Nina Belojevic

3.  STRAWBERRY THIEF: By Sophia George, Games Designer in Residence at the V&A MUSEUM 

This iPad game was created using the intricate "Strawberry Thief" pattern designed by Arts and Crafts artist, William Morris. The point of the game is for the Strawberry Thief bird to collect strawberries in order to transform a blank piece of paper into the vibrant floral design. What a fun way to engage with museums and art history!

4.  ENVISION: Girls Learning Code Installation for Nuit Blanche Toronto

This static installation of mesmerizing 3D-printed objects, created by 40 girls between the ages of 8-13, considers how objects make a space. The non-linear narrative encouraged young makers to "interpret a space by means of reinventing objects, not destroying them" (Ladies Learning Code Webpage 2015). 

* Girls Learning Code, a vital part of the Ladies Learning Code National program, hosts a series of hands-on workshops that promote technological experimentation amongst young girls. 

Envision: 3D Printed Art, Photo by Jaime Clifton-Ross

5. KITS FOR CULTURAL HISTORY: UVic Maker Lab

This project aims to physically preserve old technologies that have gradually grown obsolete or inaccessible. Through replicas of interactive and hands-on technologies packaged in distinct "cultural kits", this project explores the history of media technology through digital fabrication and physical computing. Users are encouraged to reflect on the physicality of technology and consider how this is embedded in cultural history.  

Sketch of Kit for Cultural History, by Nina Belojevic

Boxed Anthologies: Kits for Culture by Shaun Macpherson and Nina Belojevic

Now that you've been inspired by these amazingly talented makers, go create something of your own and please share your results!

iSCHOOL EVENT

Re/Making the Unknown: A Symposium Exploring Humanistic Approaches in Science and Technology Research

 A few of us from the Critical Making Lab are co-organizing a half-day symposium that brings together scholars from multiple fields to discuss the use of interdisciplinary humanistic approaches and methods in understanding:

- how scientific and cultural knowledge are produced
- how infrastructures that cross disciplinary boundaries can share objects, methods, and features
- how new technologies that blur material/digital distinctions are changing cultural institutions

Date: June 18
Location: Room 1150, Robarts Library (Main Floor), 130 St. George Street,
University of Toronto

Session One – 10am to 12pm
Finding the Known in the Unknown – This session will discuss historically-informed approaches to curating unknown, discarded, and damaged/destroyed technoscientific objects. This session will be facilitated by curators from the University of Toronto Scientific Instruments Collection, and will present a handful of case studies that see historical artifacts from the collection brought to new life through the use of cutting edge technologies.

Coffee and light lunch (provided) – 12pm to 1pm

Session Two – 1pm to 3pm
3D (De/Re)Materialization - This session will consider, with respect to the use of 3D technologies in humanistic approaches to science and technology studies, how 3D scanning and printing can be beneficial for some humanities scholars. Through the presentation of relevant examples and a live demonstration of 3D scanning and printing technologies, it will encourage a discussion around whether 3D makes possible certain kinds of investigations that are becoming increasingly necessary in a number of disciplines. The session will be facilitated by scholars from Information, Museum Studies, and History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.