openMaterials

The Resistor JelTone is an edible toy piano created by NYC Resistor members Ranjit Bhatnagar, Astrida Valigorsky, Mimi Hui and myself for the Jello Mold Competition. As part of our experiments we realized that jello and fruit, which contain a lot of water, are conductive. Embedded in each jello/fruit key is a sterling silver pin (food [...]

SketchChair, a project by Tiago Rorke and Greg Saul of Diatom, is an “open-source software tool that allows anyone to easily design and build their own digitally fabricated furniture:” The SketchChair software allows anybody to take part in the process of designing and building their own chairs. The program lets users design chairs using a simple [...]

Last March I had the opportunity to teach an openMaterials workshop at the very special École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence (France). It was part of a larger event in which the school invited researchers and artists from several fields to lead a one week class for 2nd year art students. The goal was to show [...]

Refarm the city (aka re:farm) is a collective project started and led by Hernani Dias with the purpose of developing open source software and hardware tools for urban farmers. In its creators’ words, the project is a cross between a good meal (the crop, the seeds, the friends), hardware (the urban farm, the composter, the [...]

Augmented Photography- is questioning the meaning of photography and going beyond still image. The installation is audience aware, it means when someone approaches the photograph, doll on the picture opens her eyes and starts to blink to a viewer. If none is looking at the picture the doll’s eyes are closed. Only time-to-time, she is [...]

This solar clothes washer was made by 2nd year art students from the École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence (France). The challenge was to make a DIY washing machine using only materials available in the sahara. The prototype shown above uses bicycle parts (the tires and wheel), bamboo, and a solar panel connected directly to a recycled [...]