MAST@PIFCamp was designed as a pop up event where the students of MAST would join a one week prototyping sessions and get in touch with the projects and individuals (or collectives) that have been successful in “upgrading” their DIY / DITO methodologies and prototypes into business solutions. Two of the MAST students were able to join and a mentor from Kersnikova Institute as the facilitator of the pop-up event. The two students actively took part in the camp activities with Helene continuing with the development of her project addressing overproduction and presenting her project at the end of the camp with a very positive feedback from the community.
All participants got an insight into possible product iterations, stemming out of developing prototypes in a DIY / DIWO environment, using a “hacktivistic” approach. Special guidance and inputs were provided by selected mentors at PIF camp – Vaclav Pelousek and Ruediger Wassbauer , with the first one providing insight into how his DIY initiative of producing synthesizers and other sound modulators grew into a company of 20+ employees, and Ruediger presenting their successful model of organizing large(r) maker camps, bringing them from being self-organized and poorly funded, to a recognized platform with external funding that could be used as a business model. Apart from getting an insight into possible business adaptations, the participants were also subject to a variety of inputs regarding the meaning and applications of possible technologies as there was time allocated at the camp to have discursive periods contemplating on the projects and prototypes being developed.
* WHAT IS PIFCamp?
PIFCamp is a 7-day hacker-base set in Slovenian nature, where art, technology and knowledge meet.The participants of the camp take the leading part in holding workshops, practical field trips, theoretical lectures and on-sight briefings and actively participate in the development of various DIY projects while collaborating together in a creative working environment.
In the mountain haven of the Triglav National Park, students and partners of the MAST project, under the guidance of mentors and instructors of the PIFcamp, tackle the possible approaches used in the processes of developing solutions and prototypes using DIY / DIWO / DITO methods. Together they try to identify the processes that could serve as innovative approaches not only in the art world but also in the business sphere.
More // http://pif.camp
