Hack-a-thing: A Series of FabLab Genk Workshops for Reusing and Repurposing Depreciated Objects.

Abstract

In this paper we present a series of Fab Lab workshops on reusing and repurposing existing objects. These workshops, called 'Hack-a-Thing', were organized as part of "THE MACHINE - Designing A New Industrial Revolution" exposition (see: http://www.the-machine.be/). The Hack-a-Thing workshops took place at FabLab Genk on the 7th and 8th of July and the 15th and 16th of September 2012. We invited people to bring old objects that they were bound to throw away, such as defect toasting machines, useless inkjet printers and other household appliances. The aim of the workshop series was to encourage the participants to reflect on the stuff they were about to throw away and show them how these objects could be easily repurposed using the Fab Lab infrastructure and network.