Our ‘What If…?’ showcase in October 2024 brought together community tech pioneers from Bristol to Brazil. The night celebrated community tech through interactive demos and talks, as well as a cosy interactive library of tech-inspired stories by Centre for Sociodigital Futures.
We enjoyed getting hands-on with creative tech projects:
- Penelopean robotics with Then Try This which could dance and braid around a may pole in public spaces or shared (and live coded) online during the COVID19 pandemic. They were designed based on the ‘penelopean’ technological practice and can be easily taken apart so they can be understandable and repairable. This project was funded by the EU PENELOPE Project.
- Synths made from crystals from Cornish mines, created by Then Try This.
- Paul Granjon shared the collaborative project Garden Lab Whispers Grow, exploring ‘what if we could listen to the soil?’
- An open-source digital game-making tool Downpour by V Buckenham, which radically democratises game creation. ‘What if you could make a game and share it in the time takes for the bus to get to your stop?’
- Haz Horobin-Worley shared about Queer Tech Bristol and their project Poem.Garden, exploring ‘What if we built our own communication networks?’
- David Matunda shared about his Community Tech Infrastructure Fellowship at KWMC as part of the MyWorld Ideas programme.
We also held two inspiring talks:
- Felipe Schmidt Fonseca (founder of Reuse City) chatted with Ed King about ‘what if we thought of technologies as plants?’
- Tamar Grow Local chatted with Knowle West Alliance about ‘what if everyone could access locally grown food?
To wrap up the night, we enjoyed locally-made dinner by Square Food Foundation.
Watch an Instagram Story Highlight about the night here.
Images by Ibi Feher.