On Thursday evening, the Hard Pencil collective gave a cardboard hacking workshop at Winter Camp. The workshop did not require any specific skills but everyone could hack at their own level.

All the participants had to form duos and make an avatar. No, not your own well-known online representation but an avatar made out of cardboard and other materials. Hard Pencil had collected an abundant amount of various materials lying in a huge pile on the table. The major challenge was that you had to make the avatar of your partner within 15 minutes. This tight deadline was actually pretty nice because everyone just started grabbing materials and working with it, without thinking too much about the aesthetics.  It also embodies the idea of “to hack” as a clever or quick fix.

After our avatars were finished we sat into a round and dimmed the light. In a short meditative setting with our eyes closed we were asked to imagine our perfect working space. After a few minutes I felt so relaxed that I actually imagined my perfect “working” space as a big bed with fresh white sheets and a nice breeze.

We were asked to find another partner, talk about our perfect working spaces and then build one space would incorporate these ideas. Fortunately my partner James Wallbank had similar ideas and we envisioned a place that was neither inside nor outside. We decided to build a structure out of straws and use semi-transparent plastic to execute our ideas.

In the last part of the workshop all the ideal workspaces were put together to form a small community and all the groups were asked to describe their spaces.

The workshop was a big success and a lot of fun. Thanks Hard Potlood and all the participants!

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