Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Maker Faire 2007 - Is this the future? We hope so!
Here at artfuture we’re pretty jaded when it comes to festivals and conferences for art or technology. But we pretty much had our minds blown by the sheer number and range of DIY creativity on display this past weekend at the 2nd annual Maker Faire. This is the first show we have ever seen that had in one place a truly stunning array of “makers” of every imaginable combination of fine art, craft, design, fashion, tech, engineering, programming and robotics you could think up.
There were so many things that were unique to this experience. The hands-on environment everywhere on the San Mateo Fairgrounds, welcomed participation by people of ALL ages. Not just traditional crafts but even some of the geekier fun with technology integrated into projects you actually CAN do at home. And you got to take your project with you at the end of the session. Take aways—when was the last time you got something like that from an inexpensive weekend of entertainment?
Traditional crafts were right in alongside sensors of every sort hooked up to things that move, beep, play video, create music and maybe even allow your plants to give you a call. And through it all was the overriding theme of DIY (do-it-yourself) - imagine a place where they WANT you to touch things and roll up your sleeves and try things out. Yummy!
This feels like the time just before the computer revolution exploded, when everyone thought the garage tinkerers and hobbyists were nuts. But really, they were the advance wave of the next era. So, it makes you wonder - what’s going to come from all of this collaboration and interaction?
Stay tuned here and on YouTube in the artfuture and stylefuture groups, for some of the amazing mini-documentaries that we created with various “makers” throughout the show.
Posted by Alexa and MD