Monday, September 19, 2011
Maker Faire 2011
Props: This past weekend in New York City I attended the second annual World Maker Faire. Readers of this blog may recall I attended the Maker Faire in 2010 as well. If you read Make Zine or follow their blog, you can guess what the fair is like: a strange mix of science fair plus craft fair, with a Burning Man—vibe thrown in.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
What a great gathering for crafty people and prop makers alike! I love the quirky style of this entire fair, creative arts mixed with up and coming technology that is being used in theaters across the country. I also think it is wonderful that such an event was hosted in New York City for the first time ever, this not only benefits the venders but is the ideal place to host such an event-- Broadway at the heart of the entertainment business. I also appreciate the a variety of age groups that attended, exposing more and more generations to technologies that can very well steer the future in the prop/ over all theater design business, while exciting visitors abound!
While I do not think that I will ever make the long journey to Burning Man, it's nice that the odd, almost insane, creative side can be experienced other places. I think it's really great that people have a chance to meet other people who may work in completely other fields but still have an appreciation for just awesome things that other people do. I'm looking forward to the Pittsburgh Maker Faire since I'm curious to see what the various industries, theaters, and schools of Pittsburgh bring to the show.
That's such an awesome idea. I'm sure the collaboration between engineers and designers is wonderful, and this event looks like one of the best places to go to see that collaboration at its best. This kind of event is a prime example of what we do in theatre: taking something used and constructed for a certain purpose or operation, twerking it, and making it for something completely different. Housing the event in New York seems only natural, I'm surprised that this year was the first time Maker Faire had traveled to the heart of the entertainment business. It's events like this that remind us that intuition and imagination are the greatest tools in creating a future of new and innovative ideas.
I appreciate the fact that events, like this, of the World Maker Faire are held for those with the passions and love for this type of an art form. It is a great time for people to meet and share their designs and own way of thinking with those around them. Although everyone who attends this faire isn't associated with the theatre it is great to see a connection through uses of science, technology, and design.
All of this is really neat!, but what is the practical application of these inventions. Is the Maker Faire a jump of point for those in the design field? It seems like you could walk away from this gathering and have some really creative ideas of how to turn your ideas into tangible objects. Prop masters everywhere should attend the Maker Faire if for nothing else than to be entertained.
I look at maker faire as extension of the diy movement. I mean that in terms of average people making things (or hacks) to augment what they can find on the commercial market or to fill a niche. Maker faire is just a place to show off and sharing those hacks. This act of sharing hacks can end up being really cool because instead of just one person working on a project it becomes everyone at the maker faire talking about that project or the original builder finding new technology’s and hacks to apply to there project. Those hacks then can rival the commercial market for ingenuity and because they are closer to the end user they are frequently really successful.
Post a Comment