Crafting Resistance

Crafting Resistance is a series of workshops exploring the intersection of craft, design, technology, and activism. These fields have been used throughout history as tools for political, social and personal resistance. How can we amplify these messages of resistance by combining techniques, tools, and materials from each field?

Credits

This is a collaboration with Liza Stark.

Workshop Descriptions

WORKSHOP 1: Illuminating Sensorship

In this *beginner* workshop we will explore the intersection of craft, design, activism and technology through the lens of eTextiles and eCrafts. Specifically we will ask: what is the nature of hybrid practices and how do they impact individual’s and communities’ modes of self-expression?

You will receive an introduction to the fundamentals of eTextiles & eCraft, experiment with conductive materials, and learn soft circuit construction techniques. Each participant will construct a circuit that conveys a personally meaningful message activated by a soft switch. 

WORKSHOP 2: Actuating Change

We use personal objects like emblems and badges to reinforce our association with particular communities or to assert our individual identities. They can act as unifiying elements or divisive catalysts linking us to movements, ideas, subcultures, etc.

In this workshop, we will construct our own emblems using thermochromic (heat-activated) inks, shape memory alloys, and DIY motors. We will explore techniques of activating and animating these materials to create our own representations of personal identity. 

WORKSHOP 3: Sound Off

Recorded sound transformed the way we express ourselves, share stories, and compose music. How might we reimagine the experience of storytelling and listening if our speakers were constructed out of fabric or from paper? What stories would ordinary objects record and retell from their environment?

In this workshop, we will investigate how speakers work, then construct our own speakers out of fabric and paper.

WORKSHOP 4: Embedded Messages

RFID and NFC systems are pervasive -- they exist in passports, credit cards, on keychains, etc. How can people from diverse backgrounds utilize these technologies to create useful, subversive, and/or simple methods for two way communication through crafted objects and body gestures?

Learn basic embroidery/paper craft, wireless RFID communication, and soft circuitry techniques to spread a message that is meaningful to you.