The thrill of the make comes not just from the conception and execution of an idea, but the excitement of sharing your ideas with other makers. That's the aim of Maker Day, an intimate program of interviews, presentations, demonstrations, entertainment, and maker-to-maker conversation. You're part of a larger community of people who are remaking the world. Meet the others.
From the birth of the personal computer to the spark that ignited Burning Man to the hacker revival that helped inspire MAKE:, the San Francisco Bay Area has been a hub of DIY culture for nearly half a century. What is it about this place that not only attracts incredible amounts of raw creativity and unbridled ingenuity but also motivates people to get things done on their own terms? During the morning session, we'll tour the past and present of maker culture in Northern California, honoring local icons who keep the Bay Area's DIY spirit alive.
9:30 am: The Maker Renaissance, MAKE:
founder Dale Dougherty and MAKE: editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder
The making of MAKE:, from the 1950s to today, Sebastopol to Rarotonga and back.
10:00 am: Riding the Rails, Paul Cesewski
A quintessential maker, Paul Cesewski is perhaps best known for building the
bicycle-powered ferris wheel that will be part of Cyclecide's Maker Faire
Midway. But on his "off days," Cesewski takes scenic rides on California's
abandoned rail tracks in a human-powered locomotive of his own construction.
Take a video tour with Cesewski of his wild maker adventures along the state's
forgotten infrastructure.
10:30 am: Before Burning Man, John Law in
conversation with MAKE: editor-at-large David Pescovitz
A co-founder of The Burning Man Festival, John Law's experiences bringing a
goofy wooden effigy and a bunch of gun toting ne'er-do-wells to Nevada's Black
Rock Desert was just one of many momentously odd moments on his long, strange,
trip through the Bay Area's fringe culture. In the 1970s, Law and his
co-conspirators in the legendary Suicide Club treated the city as a playground
for urban adventures and intricate pranks, ranging from nighttime climbs of the
Golden Gate Bridge to the staging of elaborate burlesque peformances in
abandoned buildings. Later, he and his friends formed the Cacophony Society, a
mischevious band of "free spritis united in the pursuit of experiences beyond
the pale of mainstream
society."
11:15 am: Survival Research Laboratories:
The Most Dangerous Show On Earth, Mark Pauline in conversation with MAKE:
editor-at-large David Pescovitz
Founded in 1978 by Mark Pauline, Survival Research Laboratories is a San
Francisco-based network of engineers, artists, hackers, and makers who create
"spectacular mechanical performances" where "humans are present only as audience
or operators." For three decades, SRL has been a force to be reckoned with in
the Bay Area and around the world, staging rare mind-blowing productions where
audiences are assaulted by the likes of a radio-controlled walking machine
outfitted with flame-throwers, a 16-foot Tesla coil spurtting blue crackling
sparks, a huge air cannon blasting away at plate glass windows, or a homebrew
hovercraft propelled by four four-foot-long pulse jet engines gliding
chaotically across burning asphalt. In many ways, SRL is a breeding ground where
the Bay Area's most talented machine artists join forces to present "the most
dangerous shows on Earth."
12:00 pm: Container Culture: Jim Mason,
Jessica Hobbs, and Kimric Smythe in conversation with MAKE: founder Dale
Dougherty
Around the Bay Area, a number of makers have set up shop inside shipping
containers. Inexpensive, tough, and transportable, these shops-in-a-box are at
the core of several communities of practice, maker spaces where individuals
gather to share ideas and equipment, learn from one another, and tackle projects
that verge on the impossible for any one person. Berkeley's The Shipyard,
founded by Jim Mason and home to makers like artist/pyrotechnician/accordion
restorer Kimric Smythe, and San Francisco's Box Shop, where Jessica Hobbs and
the Flaming Lotus Girls work their magic, are quintessential examples of this
"container culture."
Lunch: 12:45 pm - 1:30pm
How does an idea go from just a glint in a maker's eye to a successful finished project or, often just as valuable, magnificent failure? During the afternoon, we'll hear from a wide variety of individuals who embody the maker mindset, an infectious sense of curiosity, wonder, passion, and unbridled experimentation.
1:30 pm: HowToons, Saul Griffith
Created for kids but loved by all ages, HowToons is a series of illustrated
instructions for DIY science and technology projects. Through the entertaining
and irreverent graphic imagery, kids learn to repurpose objects around them to
explore the physical world, develop a maker mindset, and create their own fun.
Created by MAKE: columnist and Squid Labs co-founder Saul Griffith, Joost
Bonsen, and artist Nick Dragotta, HowToons is dedicated to the dissemination of
"Open Kid Ware."
2:00 pm: Cooking with Frank Oppenheimer,
Bill Molina in conversation with MAKE: Community Manager Michelle Hlubinka
Founded by physicist Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the Exploratorium in San
Francisco is a pioneering museum of science, art, and human perception dedicated
to education through hands-on experiences. From the beginning, Oppenheimer
insisted that the work of the Exploratorium be openly shared with the public,
which the museum continues to do through its online resources and its Cookbooks:
a collection of 201 recipes, including schematics and parts lists, for whipping
up your own Exploratorium exhibits. In the two decades since his passing,
Frank's legacy continues to influence hundreds of science and technology centers
around the world. Former Exploratorium exhibit designer Bill Molina, who since
1990 has directed the exhibits at the hands-on Discovery Center of Idaho
(http://www.scidaho.org), will discuss how the spirit of Frank lives on in
museums that emphasize invention, curiosity, creativity, and play.
2:30 pm: Mister Jalopy's Garage, MAKE:
columnist Mister Jalopy
According to Mister Jalopy, "a throwaway society means rocket science technology
is available for bubble gum money and a willingness to get dirty." A dedicated
maker, mechanic, and diehard garage saler, Mister Jalopy's explorations of the
"Deep Sea Suburbs" has given him great insight into custom vans, internal
combustion engines, backyard anthropology, and the California dream. There has
never been a better time to reorder the world according to your aesthetics and
desires, he syas, as this is the makers' golden age. Materials, information and
education have never been more plentiful. Who would have thought lasers,
satellite dishes, pocket telephones and computers would be so plentiful that
disposal would become an issue? Build your workshop then build your world around
you.
3:00 pm: Banks EcoNomics 101, Gale Banks
Futurist, inventor, and entrepreneur, Gale Banks has spent five a half-century
designing some of the most fuel-efficient, engineered power systems in the world
for pickup trucks, SUVs, motorhomes, and boats. His southern California firm,
Gale Banks Engineering, produces power and braking components for Chevy, Dodge,
Ford, Jeep, Toyota, and Nissan. Banks's diesel "Dakota Sidewinder" shattered the
record for the world's fastest pickup, yet gets 24.5 mpg on the highway.
Dedicated to powertrain efficiency and emissions reduction since long before the
1970s oil crisis, Banks has spent an entire career asking, and attempting to
answer, the question of how to separate the practical future car from the
political future car?
3:45 pm: A Coven of Crafters, Susan Beal,
Jenny Ryan, Syuzi Pakhchyan, Jeffrey McGrew, and Jillian Northrup in
conversation with CRAFT editor-in-chief Carla Sinclair
Originally, CRAFT magazine was meant to be a one-off themed issue of MAKE:.
Then, crowds at the first Maker Faire last April swarmed the special crafts
area, the excitement becaue palpable, and the special issue was reinvented as a
new quarterly sister publiation to MAKE:. The CRAFT renaissance pushes crafting
beyond its traditional boundaries, either through technology, irony,
irreverence, and creative recycling, or by using innovative materials and
processes. Ultimately, makers and crafters are doing the same thing, empowering
themselves to create something useful while having fun as they do it. CRAFT
editor-in-chief Carla Sinclair talks with SparkLab's Syuzi Pakhchyan, Super
Crafty co-author Susan Beal, and Jenny Ryan, founder of the the Felt Club craft
fair, and Jillian Northrup and Jeffrey McGrew of Because We Can.
4:30 pm: Re-imagine, Re-fashion, and
Re-fit, CRAFT: columnist Wendy Tremayne
In 2005, Wendy Tremayne launched Swap-O-Rama-Rama, an "alternative to
consumerism" in the form of a clothing swap and DIY workshop. The aim is to
inspire creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing by cutting,
sewing, and transforming the garments into something new, original, and
decidedly your own. Since its introduction, Swap-O-Rama-Rama has grown to more
than 40 cities around the world, including a very special swap at Maker Faire.
Tremayne now lives in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico where she's building
Green Acre, a sustainable B&B and venue constructed from recycled materials.
5:00 pm: Coin-Op Arcadia, Tim Hunkin in
conversation with MAKE: founder Dale Dougherty
Tim Hunkin is best known for hosting the terrific BBC program The Secret Life Of
Machines, but Hunkin is an accomplished maker in his own right. Hunkin is master
craftsman and engineer who has built a fantastic array of coin-operated machines
that blend the history of penny arcade mechanics with modern wit and technology.
Many of his mad contraptions can be experienced at his Under The Pier Show on
Southwold Pier, Suffolk, UK. There, you can experience the Autofrisk, where
robotic rubber gloves pat you down, the Gene Forecaster that analyzes a hair
sample to provide you with a genetic fortune cookie, and the Quantum Tunneling
Telescope, "focusing time and space to bring you everything you could possibly
want to see through a pier telescope," from shark attacks to oil rig raves to
mermaids and dolphins.
Drinks and Dinner 5:30pm - 7:00pm
The evening's entertainment is a living cabinet of curiosities, from tales of ingenious and daring makerdom to subversive electronics to audio/visual experimentation.
7:00 pm: The Man Who Fell To Earth,
Colonel Joe Kittinger Jr. in conversation with MAKE: associate publisher Dan
Woods
On August 16, 1960, Colonel Joe Kittinger jumped from a hot air balloon at the
edge of space and fell for 20 miles, along the way becoming the first man to
break the sound barrier, without an airplane. Freefalling for four and a half
minutes, Kittinger dropped at speeds up to 714 miles per hour before opening his
parachute at 18,000 feet and landing safely on target in the New Mexico desert.
The experiment, to test the safety of a new high-altitude ejection system, was a
success. After retiring from the Air Force, Kittinger continued living the high
life, in 1984 completing the first solo hot air balloon journey across the
Atlantic.
7:45 pm: The Making of The Crucible,
Michael Sturtz
When artist Michael Sturtz moved into West Oakland in the 1990s, he knew the
tough waterfront neighborhood was a hotbed for sculptors. Thing is, nobody knew
each other. Sturtz changed all that by establishing The Crucible, a community of
practice in the form of a non-profit industrial arts school. What began as ad
hoc classes in Sturtz's live-work space and weekend bronze casting BBQs in his
backyard has grown into a vast 56,000 square foot studio that hosts 500 courses
each year on arts and crafts as eclectic as welding, jewelry, neon,
blacksmithing, woodworking, kinetics, and, fire performance. Last year, more
than 5,000 adult students, plus another 3,000 school children, got their hands
dirty at The Crucible, learning how to express their creativity by shaping,
pounding, cutting, and molding steel, ceramics, fabric, enamel, and dozens of
other media.
8:15 pm: Design Noir, MAKE: senior editor
Phil Torrone
Design Noir describes the secret, shadowy life of electronic objects, defined by
Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby as "the narrative space entered by using and
misusing a simple electronic product." MAKE: senior editor Phil Torrone will
discuss an array of devices that embody this philosophy of challenging “the
conformity of everyday life by short-circuiting our emotions and states of
mind," from a handheld cell phone jammer to sunglasses that darken when you look
at a television.
8:45 pm: Nervous Films, Brent Green
Filmmaker Brent Green is a self-taught artist who creates surrealist, darkly
comedic stop-motion animations in a Cressona, PA barn. The stars in his raw,
dreamlike tales are carved wood figures that play out odd narratives in
melancholy settings constructed from found materials. The New York Times called
Green's films "among the best original animations devised by an artist in
years." Green will perform a live soundtrack to accompany this screening of his
mind-bending work.
9:30 pm: The Orb, James N. Sears
A stunning 3D display, the Orb is a rotating persistence of vision device that
creates a sphere of color animation. In a multi-generational collaboration with
his father and grandfather, James Sears constructed The Orb as a school project
for New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program where he's a
student. According to its inventors, The Orb "is a step toward reestablishing
the relevance of the globe as spherical object for increasing viewers' awareness
and perspective on issues of worldwide significance.
