Over the last couple of centuries rapid changes in technology, economic fluctuation, technological replacement and planned obsolescence have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of (electronic) waste around the globe. An equally growing demand has risen for the re-purposing, repair, disposal and salvaging of this material, generating different methods that each have their own impact on the economy and environment. Among others, some relevant questions arise from this matter:
* What values construct our contemporary attitude towards waste?
* Is it perhaps an obsession with utility?
* What are the artistic merits of repair?
In this workshop, hosted by Yoana Buzova and Niek Hilkmann, we will take a look at the implications of recycling (electronic) waste. This will happen in a hands-on workshop in which we will visit places where ‘waste’ is being gathered and turn the concept of repair and recycle upside down. Departing from the idea that uselessness, like a haiku poem, contains a certain subversive potential, we will rework a utility object into something quite useless.
This workshop is organised in the context of the very first series of the Varia curriculum, developed in collaboration with the 3rd year minor "Hacking" of the Autonomous practices from the Willem de Kooning Academy (WdKA) in Rotterdam. The curriculum is an ongoing series of workshops in which participants are introduced to technical, theoretical and methodological skills at the basis of the various practices that live within *Varia*. These are short intensive master-classes or workshops aimed towards providing high level introductions as a basis for further explorations.
Would you like to join this workshop? Please send us a short email on the info[a]varia.zone email address before the 19th of November! The workshop is open to 10 students from the WdKA and 5 external participants.
