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Feminist Hardware: Making Printed Circuit Boards with Natural Clay
WORKSHOP at Hangar, Barcelona by Patrícia J. Reis & Sefanie Wuschitz
Date | 18.10 - 20.10.2023
Venue | Hangar, Barcelona
It is an open secret that the hardware in our smart devices contains not only plastics but also conflict minerals such as tungsten, tin, tantalum, silver and gold. Hence, technology is not neutral. In this workshop, given by Patrícia J. Reis (PT/AT) & Stefanie Wuschitz (AT), we investigate alternative hardware from locally sourced materials, so-called ethical hardware, to develop and speculate upon renewable practices for the benefit of both nature and humans.
During the workshop we will make Printed Circuit Boards with natural clay using recycled silver as main electrical conductors. We will model the boards, paint the circuit and fire it in an open fire at Hangar. On our last day participants will solder all electronic components and test our circuit for an interactive microcontroller board that can control digital and analogue sensors as inputs and speakers, leds and motors as outputs. The final boards will be shown in a public presentation on the last day and can be taken home by the participants by the end of the event.
This workshop is part of the “Fem_Lab exchange Catalonia-Austria” project, a collaboration between Mz* Baltazar’s Lab and Hangar, supported by the Delegation of the Government of Catalonia to Central Europe and the Ramon Llull Institute.
Schedule
Wednesday, October 18th from 10 am to 3 pm
— Project Introduction
— Modelling the clay
— Paint the circuits
Thursday, October 19th from 10 am to 3 pm
— Firing the clay
— Soldering electronics
Requirements: No previous knowledge required.
If you have but you mustn’t:
— Clay modeling tools (dough roller), thin brushes, old plastic/metals bowls, old yogurt cups, and sandpaper
— Gloves, Apron or working clothes
— Old electronics such as: old Arduino Atmegas, magnets, Schottkydiodes, resistors, capacitors, leds, LDRS, DC motors
Practical information
Days: October 18 & 19
Time: from 10 am to 3 pm
Place: Sala Polivalent
Language: English
Limited to 12 participants.
Free of charge. Prior registration is required via this link.
Patrícia J. Reis & Stefanie Wuschitz are both media artists and researchers based in Vienna (AT) holding a post-doc position at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, as the main researchers of the project FEMINIST HACKING: BUILDING CIRCUITS AS AN ARTISTIC PRACTICE – an international art-based research project, which proposes a strategy and method for empathic, eco-sentient, de-colonial and anti-racist for hardware and art making. Feminist hacking involves an intensive knowledge-sharing process, through workshops and other forms of exchange and is financed by FWF – Austrian Science Fund | PEEK (AR580) Stefanie Wuschitz funded Mz* Baltazar’s Lab – A feminist Hackerspace and artists runned space based in Vienna. Patrícia J. Reis joined the collective in 2013.
Free of charge. Prior registration is required via this link
or visit Hangar
Images: Janine Schranz
SALON OF OPEN SECRETS - SOS: “NEW MATERIALISM, FEMINIST PRACTICES”
Experiences in progress by Patrícia J. Reis, Stefanie Wuschitz, Taguhi Torosyan 2021
with Karin Reisinger, Patricia J. Reis, Taguhi Torosyan, Stefanie Wuschitz, Barbara Huber and Karina Jarrett
Date | 10.03.2021, 5.00 p.m.
Venue | Online
Event within the Frame of 100 years of Admitting Women to Study at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
SOS stands for Salon of Open Secrets*. Now what does that mean?
What are Open Secrets? The elephants in the room? Gossip? Publicly censored and stigmatised topics? Everything at the same time, but not exclusively. We define Open Secrets as a very situated niche of embodied experiences, know-hows and fun – of being female*, of bending binaries with/through/in art, technologies, engineering and materials science and of connecting to each other in the most unexpected and life-assuring ways.
SOS is a virtual reenactment of our cozy hackerspace studio/gallery. It is a place, a conversation, happening and relationship. Our Salon wants to reconnect to all of you out there making and creating, succeeding and failing to do things and to think with things. With those who manage to stay fascinated with the promise that technologies always held: to create a better and more liveable future for all.
*Format: Each month, we will be holding an open online conversation with an artist, feminist, hacker, maker, scientist on the existing challenges and their solutions – weaving an interconnected web of materials, components, ecologies, economies, labor, hardware, geographies, ethics and politics of becoming in our more than human world.
www.mzbaltazarslaboratory.org
www.feministhacking.org
Karin Reisinger – feministische Ökologien
Registration:
fgd@akbild.ac.at
Event within the Frame of 100 years of Admitting Women to Study at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
SOS stands for Salon of Open Secrets*. Now what does that mean?
What are Open Secrets? The elephants in the room? Gossip? Publicly censored and stigmatised topics? Everything at the same time, but not exclusively. We define Open Secrets as a very situated niche of embodied experiences, know-hows and fun – of being female*, of bending binaries with/through/in art, technologies, engineering and materials science and of connecting to each other in the most unexpected and life-assuring ways.
SOS is a virtual reenactment of our cozy hackerspace studio/gallery. It is a place, a conversation, happening and relationship. Our Salon wants to reconnect to all of you out there making and creating, succeeding and failing to do things and to think with things. With those who manage to stay fascinated with the promise that technologies always held: to create a better and more liveable future for all.
*Format: Each month, we will be holding an open online conversation with an artist, feminist, hacker, maker, scientist on the existing challenges and their solutions – weaving an interconnected web of materials, components, ecologies, economies, labor, hardware, geographies, ethics and politics of becoming in our more than human world.
www.mzbaltazarslaboratory.org
www.feministhacking.org
Karin Reisinger – feministische Ökologien
Registration:
fgd@akbild.ac.at