IN-PERSON London. Section B

Abstract

This presentation addresses how the much-discussed environment of the makerspace creates a dynamic conversation concerning issues regarding digital technologies, art and design maker practices and the commons within the context of the city. It is related to a 4year applied research programme, ‘Phygital: Cyprus’, which explored issues around the technological and digital revolution of our everydayness and our production processes (through the creation of a municipal makerspace), socially related art and design practices, discourses regarding makerspaces/hackerspaces, crafting, making and the commons. Digital technologies have pervaded our cultural, productive, learning and social habits within urban structures. This creates a new set of questions in regards to the relationship between maker communities and cooperative structures of inter-disciplinary making. This presentation addresses communities and collectivities of makers and the effects of makerspaces, which focus on art and design cultural practices within the city fabric. It focuses on ecosystems of past and present making cultural practices by thinking of makerspaces in relation to the art and craft movement, ideas of peer-to-peer learning processes and crafting commonisms. Through this case study of a municipal makerspace, I consider whether makerspaces render our cities more livable by crafting maker communities and also the paradox of makerspaces and innovation hubs as instigators of gentrification processes. By interweaving debates that relate to makerspaces, community maker cultures, the free and open source software movement and socially engaged art, I unpack the complexity of crafting commons in the city space.