Tech Mining 
 
How can we transform electronic waste into innovative design solutions with poetic potential? How can we create interactive installations and objects that challenge our technology-driven society focused on growth and progress?  
 
In this workshop, participants develop “Refunct” modules utilizing various forms of portable electronic waste. Their goal is to connect each object, creating deliberately complex and unstable systems. Throughout the workshop, participants engage with critical themes relevant to our technological landscape, including electronic waste, planned obsolescence, and sustainable interaction design practices. Instead of providing concrete answers, they explore the practices of reappropriation, piracy, and subversion. 
 
Through a blend of technical and poetic exploration, the workshop highlights the potential of electronic waste and examines our consumption of media. This raises important questions about how we can challenge the conventional narratives of “new” media using our art and design methodologies. How can we repurpose electronic waste creatively while infusing it with new meanings? How can we design installations and objects that subvert the norms of a society driven by technological advancement? 

Credits 
The secret life of unloved objects, Elie Hofer, Amaury Hamon, Hannah Mackaness, 2023 
Trickle Down, Jonas Wolter, Mathilde Schibler, 2024 
Chlorofeels, Andrès Acosta Blaschitz, Daria Kotova, 2024 
Strike a pose, Ekaterina Bliznyuk, Pedroli Ares, 2024   
Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Mariia Gulkova, Nargess Hamidi Madani, Marine Faroud-Boget and Michelle Ponti and Leoni Courbat, 2023   

Teachers 
Nicolas Nova  
Benjamin Gaulon