The Consumer Engine: Desire, Purchase, Use, Disappointment, New Desire: repeat
Let’s Hack this cycle with screwdrivers and hammers: stop buying, start Breaking & Making
Coming soon here: How-to videos and guides on Hardware Hacking & Making with e-waste
UnBoxing: the internet is awash with videos of giddy kids & men excitedly opening their brand-new purchase; they simply must share the primal joy of that blissful moment. Our UnBoxing campaign subverts this trend with a Hardware Hacker’s version.
Embrace the Art of UnMaking:
‘Like Making things, but the other way around’
BOOK NOW!
Noisy Toys activities related to e-waste & hardware hacking (most of what we do):
- 60 Million Tonnes stage show
- Scavengers workshops
- UnMaking workshops & clubs
- Acousatron installation
- Drop-in Hacktivities
UnMaking
Level 1: screwdrivers & small catters
Level 2: hammers, saws, leverage
Level 3: power tools
Or just Do It Yourself.
Watch out for more UnBoxing videos and a series of ‘How-To-Make’ videos for guides on building evil noisy inventions with your salvaged e-treasure. Coming soon…
Why?
Obviously we aren’t expecting to solve the global e-waste problem by dismantling a few defunct computers. There are several reasons why we are so keen on Unmaking:
Increase awareness
Lecturing people about e-waste (or most things it turns out) doesn’t seem to work that well, so it’s better to engage people with interesting activities through which we can all learn to think differently about the consumer products that are so prevalent in our lives.
Free resources
One of the main ideas of Permaculture is to make use of the resources that you have. There seems to be quite a lot of this e-waste knocking around, and some of it constitutes very useable free resources for Makers and Tinkerers, so it makes sense to use it.
Skills
It’s not always easy; you have to quickly learn how to use the available tools. Choosing the right screwdriver and applying the right pressure is a steep learning curve for most adults as well as young people at our workshops. Then there is the careful use of controlled force….
Learning
Many inventors started off by taking stuff apart. Cracking open these shiny magic boxes and seeing what’s really going on inside is a perfect way to learn how things work.
Fun
Having run many Unmaking sessions we can safely say that most people just enjoy taking things apart.