EMPOWERMENT IS ACCEPTANCE THAT THERE IS NO CONTROL. -Andrea Bravo

HOW CAN WE CLAIM TO CARE ABOUT NATURE IF WE DON'T UNDERSTAND IT?

The art objects I create – many of which are useless or don’t serve any immediate purpose – emerge from my own personal web of disparate interests, references, and disciplines. The writing I do is similar: I’m always trying to pull together threads and find connective tissue across the things I read.

-Rebecca Ricks

"I care about having an impact on people's understanding of the world. Like the efficacy of communication, what is it people need to hear or see or get in order for behavior to change. . ."

-Sylvia Gozdek

"In thinking about this violence towards women in films, I'm interested in looking at the "sacrificial" aspect -- I mean, we see Pris the Daryl Hannah replicant also killed in a painful, gruesome, but aestheticized way, she's provacatively clothed, and gets shot through the womb, dies in a dramatic fit. But Roy, though similarly scantily clothed, gets to die a "natural" death, with a beautiful white dove in the crook of his arm, and a nail through his hand, obviously a Christ reference. Not sure what it all means...

-Mara Goldwyn

"I wonder how much tech is built around one body type. Having read Invisible Women and with my own personal experience with my Apple Watch not sensing correctly because of my smaller wrist, I wonder how much these new wearable sensors are missing or mis-reading signals because they’re built for and tested on the people who designed them (probably white men)."

1.

2.

5.

6.

7.

"If we have big data and very few models to work from, vital that someone has started a discourse even if metrics, empowering questions and (as was said) motivating new weaponised ways to use data (from an activist perspective)."

-Sarah Bell

"I'm pausing my vid for my popcorn but I'm still here!" :)

"I'm convinced even my dog cam is listening to me."

"Our Code of Conduct has allowed our art collective to navigate several instances of online "cancelling" of artists that are supposed to participate in our space / events. We had to basically take each instance of "cancelling" or potential cancelling based on who reported the safety issues, what proof (if any) they had, etc.

We effectively become the community justice system without asking to be sometimes, but we care, so we try to implement safety precautions where we can."

-Maggie Kane

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

12.

11.

13.

1. Pictured: Lisa Passing, Carlo de Gaetano, Marisa Satsia
2. Cloned Mushroom - Marisa Satsia
3. Cloned Mushroom - Marisa Satsia
4. Postcards from Climate Futures - Carlo de Gaetano
5. Screenshot of code - instructor Davide Prati
6. Image Davide Prati
7. Image outputs from our group GANS project titled "What the fuck is going on?"
8. Scan work Marisa Satsia
9. Images Marisa Satsia
10. Image Matti Pohjonen
11. Image Carlo de Gaetano
12. Image Stefanos Christodoulides
13. Scan work Lukas Rudig
14. Image Florence To

1.

2.

3.

1. - 6. All images included in slide presentation by instructors Vytautas Jankauskas and Claire Glanois otherwise screenshots from class

1.

2.

4.

3.

1. - 2. Slides from class presentation by instructor Márton Árva
3. Film exerpts shown in class:
Excerpt 2 Demon seed (1977),
Excerpt 3 Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975),
Excerpt 4 The Stepford Wives (1975)

4. Project created by Liri Chapelan.
5. Imagined film on future relationships with devices and machines by Rachel Uwa (Michelle O'Higgins pictured)

"So much to discuss about the gender roles in sci-fi films. I always find the female replicants/AI provide a much more 'human' side than a male would, which brings up a lot about how the world sees female's having more 'human' traits than men. Also how the male actors both are not know for their range in Blade Runner which suits the characters they are playing e.g. finding their humanness.

When creating chatbots there is always the balance of being more 'human' and also historical caring roles vs secretary/assistant gender stereotypes. Would be great to think about how most of these films would play out if genders were flipped."

-Kurt Strong

How to get politicians to feel the pressure because everything happens on the internet but can easily be ignored. What's a protest online without some kind of real pressure that can be felt by politicians otherwise why would they change anything?

4.

5.

6.

3.

5.

14.

15.

1.

2.

3.

4

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

1. - 7. All images included in slide presentation by instructor Regine Debatty
8. - 10. Drawings based on inspiration from class by Marlene Schaefermeyer
11. Participants showing their favourite animals, pictured: Claire Pillsbury, Regine Debatty, Alan Hook, Alexander Scholz, Michael Straeubig, Julie Freeman
12. Desktop Photocollage with Kasia Molga, Conn Holohan, other participants from Art & Animals

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

1. - 2. All images included in slide presentation by instructor Marisa Satsia
3..Work by Katy Connor
4. Work by Sarah Titford
5. - 8. Works by Kit Kuksenok
9. Xray Crystallography by Katy Connor
10. Drawings by Hannah Perner-Wilson
11. Tubes of blood from work by Lina Lopes
12. Body project by Lina Lopes
13. Work by Rosa Francesca

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

13.

12.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

1. - 6. All images included in slide presentation by instructor Ela Kagel otherwise screenshots from class

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

1. - 4. All images included in slide presentation by instructor Aliaksandra Smirnova
5. Phi Water Project from Aliaksandra Smirnova
6. Artwork from Vicky Clarke
7. Group research from Ana Jelicic, Saakshita Prabhakar, Beth Chappell

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1. - 5. All images included in slide presentation by instructor Alexandre Puttick otherwise screenshot from class.
6. Notebooks by Alexander Puttlick with modifications by David Schmudde.

0. The End of the Day by April Soetarman
1. 5AM game by Katerina Mag
2. You Can't Survive on Ice Cream game by Katerina Mag
3. Games I Didn't Know I Played by Fereshteh
4. Sometimes When I Wake Up game by Irene Preuss
5. Good Meowning by Maggie Kane
6. Memories of Miss Lime by Katerina Mag
7. One Last Time game by Adnan Arif
8. Tiny Bonfire by Lizz Dot
9. Magnetic Bodies by Maria Saridaki

10. Screenshot from presentation by Instructor Bahiyya Khan
11. Animation by Lizz Dot
12. Screenshot from presentation by Instructor Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan
13. Eleanor Vincent sharing thought process sketch in class
14. Class chat comments
15. Art by Lizz Dot
16. Screenshot from presentation by Instructor Lorenzo Pilia
17. Writing by Bahiyya Khan overlayed with screenshot from class
18. Screenshot from presentation by Instructor Lorenzo Pilia
19. Class chat comments

1. P5JS sketch by Yee Hui
2. P5JS sketch by Gabi Branco
3. P5JS sketch by Gabi Branco
4. P5JS sketch by Instructor Cici Liu
5. P5JS sketch by Instructor Sophie Bullock
6. P5JS sketch by Instructor Cici Liu

7. Screenshot from Instructor Cici Liu
8. P5JS sketch by Rachel
9. Zine example by Instructor Cici Liu
10. Screenshot from class
11. Week 2 class plan
12. P5JS sketch by Instructor Cici Liu

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

1. - 13. All images included in slide presentation by instructor Kit Kuksenok
14. Attempts at tracking forgetfulness by Rachel
15. Using analog methods of tracking by Michelle O'Higgins

6.

1. Archive of the Anthropocene by Rebecca Ricks
2. Love Letter Generator by David Kelly
3. Apologies by Tara Tarakiyee
4. - 13. From slide presentations by instructor Mario Guzman

ABOUT SCHOOL OF MACHINES, MAKING & MAKE-BELIEVE

School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe is a uniquely curated School born in Berlin, Germany in 2014, keen on inventing one-of-a-kind hands-on learning experiences in the areas of art, technology, design, and human connection. 

Our philosophy is centered around the idea that we are all lifelong learners. We love for our students to leave our programs activated; not only equipped with technical and hands-on tools and skill sets, but also critically-minded, more deeply engaged with their surroundings and with themselves. For more info, write us at info[at]schoolofma.org or visit our website at schoolofma.org.

0.