🏭 Factories as Canvas 🎨 Propelling Art+Tech in Shenzhen, the World’s Makerspace ⚙️

[Post-session notes]

We discussed 2 options, and both of them will have applications open in September or October:

• Research At Scale residency (4 weeks in January): https://ras.media.mit.edu

• Scalable HCI symposium (1st full week of January): https://ScalableHCI.com

TL;DR

What happens when electronics markets, factory networks, and maker ecosystems become part of your creative process?

We spent a month in China tinkering on physical art and tech projects in the place where ~90% of all consumer electronics are made.

This informal show-and-tell was about what we built there, and how you can join us next time!

We shared discoveries from Research at Scale, a program that began at MIT and is now open to anyone interested in exploring Shenzhen as a studio for art, hardware, and creative research.

What?

Concretely, the conversation was about rapid prototyping in the Huaqiangbei factory market, experiments with manufacturers, and projects spanning performance wearables, interactive electronics, and hardware art:

• Tech: how to access parts, tools, fabrication, supply-chain tricks.

• Art: how unexpected creative communities can reshape tech+art research and practice.

Audience

For artists, creative technologists, physical computing people, performers, and anyone curious about making things in unusual ecosystems.