| Beschreibung |
What happens to electronics after they die? This module bridges hardware hacking and critical media theory. The goal is to ground this practice in theory while exploring how building our own hardware can be a radical act of political and creative autonomy.
Contemporary society throws away an astonishing amount of hardware: printers that gave up years ago, monitors nobody claimed, a mobile phone only a few years out of date. In this module we treat this as a resource rather than a tragedy. You’ll salvage dead electronics, open them up and build something else: a cyber-artifact.
No prior electronics experience is required. Interdisciplinarity | It takes a village to build a cyber-artifact. It needs theory, design, and hardware in the same room and often, at the same time. So the cohort is mixed on purpose. Some of us model in 3D, some code, some solder, some write; most of us do exactly one of these well and bluff the rest. You bring what you have to the class and pick up the rest from our workshops and whoever is sitting next to you, which is faster than a lecture and far more enjoyable.
Alongside the soldering iron there is reading; on waste, obsolescence, cyborgs and objects designed to unsettle rather than reassure. Plus an ongoing argument about whether building your own hardware is real autonomy or a nicer relationship with the same rubbish.
Art, design, media studies are equally welcome. Students with different skill sets (3d modeling, design, coding, making) and proficiencies are highly recommended to apply. What matters is a willingness to get involved and contribute to our Cyber Artifact Studio! Learning Objectives | Participants will be able to understand and discuss the consumer hardware lifecycle through cyber-feminist methodology.
Participants will be able to apply foundational concepts from media theory to contemporary DIY maker culture.
Participants will develop practical, beginner level skills in diagnosing electronic waste and safe component harvesting.
Participants will be able to implement physical computing and hardware hacking principles with the aid of e-waste and microcontrollers.
Participants will be able to design and fabricate their own cyber artifacts and their housings. Didactic Concept | The course follows a collaborative, horizontal peer-to-peer seminar model. Rather than acting solely as instructors, we see our role as mediators within a shared studio environment, encouraging students to exchange skills, experiment together, and contribute their own perspectives.
The weekly flow alternates between critical reading and practical implementation. We will discuss foundational texts on reuse, media ecology, e-waste and media archaeology, alongside workshops introducing soldering, hardware and physical fabrication. Open-source, plug-and-play tools will help lower technical barriers and allow students to focus on experimentation.
Guest lectures and project critiques will provide additional perspectives and feedback. An excursion to a local e-waste facility will connect studio practice to the wider systems of electronic consumption and disposal, while giving students the opportunity to gather materials for their own Cyber-Artifacts. |
| Literatur |
Digital Rubbish by Jennifer Gabrys,
Zombie Media: Circuit Bending Media Archaeology into an Art Method by Garnet Hertz and Jussi Parikka,
Data out of place: Toxic traces and the politics of recycling by Nanna Bonde Thylstrup,
Design Noir by Anthony Dune & Fiona Raby,
Methodologies of Reuse in the Media Arts: Exploring Black Boxes, Tactics and Archaeologies by Garnet Hertz,
Media Archaeologies by Angela Piccini,
Towards a critical media ecology: Gender and media ecology by Bernadette 'Bird' Bowen,
Staying with, working through and performing obsolescence by Ståhl, Åsa & Lindström, Kristina & Snodgrass, Eric,
Performing the Electrical: Ecologies of the Imaginary and Fem-technologies by Geneva Foster Gluck,
Toxic Colonialism and the Gesture of Generosity by Jisha Menon,
Remain by Ioana B. Jucan, Jussi Parikka, and Rebecca Schneider. |
| Voraussetzungen |
The course is open to Bachelor and Master students from all faculties. No prior experience in electronics, soldering, or programming is required. Participants must bring a high degree of curiosity for open-source hardware, DIY culture, and a willingness to engage in collaborative, hands-on prototyping. Students are expected to bring their own laptops. Weekly attendance in seminars and group plenums is expected. As well as a series of workshops hosted by us and the Interface Design Faculty. Students will also be invited to a series of guest lectures to support course work. "Please send us a short motivation letter regarding why you are interested in this course and a brief overview of your experience to aysenur.dilsad.eryilmaz@uni-weimar.de" |
| Zielgruppe |
The course is conducted as a „Students’ Bauhaus.Module” and open to all Bachelor and Master students of the faculties of Architecture and Urbanism, Art and Design, and Media. Before registering, please consult your academic advisor and clarify whether this course can be credited to your curriculum. If required, you can conclude a learning agreement (DE/EN) before the start of the course. |
