HACKING & INTERACTION & MAGIC
In this one week course, you will explore how to use interactive and
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ASSIGNMENT
Create an interactive installation and experiment with new media.
Ingredients of your interactive installation could include:
We all experience technologies in our daily lives. Every form of communication is a form of technology. Hacking is about using our creativity to explore, take ownership of, and intentionally apply these technologies. In this course, we will hack existing interactions and systems around us—not only to understand how they work, but also to explore what they can mean for your project. By making a lot, we reclaim interactions, placing power dynamics and the unexpected, magical workings of technology at the center.
Planning
The course consists of a series of hands-on workshops where you will experiment with meaningful data flows from buttons and sensors using Arduino, Makey Makey, Processing, and AI-enhanced coding. Ultimately, you will create an interactive piece in which you use these skills to tell and amplify your own story.
Monday: Electro-trash Hacking with Makey Makey
Possible Outcomes
These lessons are about experimentation. It's not just about the perfect final piece, but about the different steps you take along the way. Document these so you can show them at the end of the week: through screenshots, videos, and prototypes.
At the end of the week we hope to see a prototype of an interactive artwork. We will look at the technique, concept, and form. This doesn’t mean they all have to carry equal weight in the story you want to tell. It could be that you put a lot of time and energy into one of the three, making the others more supportive.
Collaboration: if it fits with your idea, you are welcome to collaborate on your project.
In this one week course, you will explore how to use interactive and
generative tools in the physical world to tell your story!
︎︎︎ Take me back to the index
ASSIGNMENT
Create an interactive installation and experiment with new media.
You will experiment with the meaning of interaction in your practice. You are free to choose the form it takes, the technology you want to use, and the story you want to tell.
We will offer workshops as an introduction to some of the media we frequently use.
Ingredients of your interactive installation could include:
- A screen connected to a sensor
- A button connected to a microcontroller (Arduino + Makey Makey)
- Code using a custom dataset (created with Processing)
- A non-linear video embedded in a sculpture with interactive sound
Hacking as a method
We all experience technologies in our daily lives. Every form of communication is a form of technology. Hacking is about using our creativity to explore, take ownership of, and intentionally apply these technologies. In this course, we will hack existing interactions and systems around us—not only to understand how they work, but also to explore what they can mean for your project. By making a lot, we reclaim interactions, placing power dynamics and the unexpected, magical workings of technology at the center.
Planning
The course consists of a series of hands-on workshops where you will experiment with meaningful data flows from buttons and sensors using Arduino, Makey Makey, Processing, and AI-enhanced coding. Ultimately, you will create an interactive piece in which you use these skills to tell and amplify your own story.
Monday: Electro-trash Hacking with Makey Makey
You’ll also learn how to use the Makey Makey (another type of microcontroller) as a keyboard interface in creative projects. Bring your own techno-trash—any discarded electronics you'd like to hack! Anything conductive can be a button!
09:00 - 09:50 Introductions: and overview of the week
09:50 - 10:40 Activity: lecture - an introduction to interaction, design, and hacking by Telemagic! Cyanne van den Houten (they/them) and Ymer Marinus (they/them).
10:40-11:00 Break
11:30 - 12:00 Warming up exercise + school announcements
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:15 Workshop: Making electrotrash into a button with Makey Makey
14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 – 16:00 Continuation
Tuesday: Make your Arcade Oracle
How to work with Arduino, how do you connect buttons and sensors to it and let it communicate with your computer. During this workshop, you’ll connect a button to an Arduino to Processing and let it communicate over serial. If you have experience you can dive into sensor programming!
09:00 - 09:30: Start-up
09:30 - 10:15: Introduction buttons, Arduino and serial communication
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Workshop: making a Arcade Oracle with Arduino and a button
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:15 Tweak your code have fun! Open lab time.
14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 – 16:00 A dive into the sensor guide. How to use a sensor instead of a button
Sharing first ideas of what you would like to make.
Wednesday: (Speculative) Prototyping & Open lab Time
09:00 - 10:15: Prototyping workshop
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Open lab Time
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 15:00 Independent Study Time, we are present in the lab!
09:00 - 10:15: Workshop: AI-Enhanced LLM-Powered Coding, Ethics, and Hacking
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Experimentation time
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:15 Tool Sharing: Power of Designing Interfaces
14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 – 16:00 Open lab Time
09:00 - 11:30 Free work to prepare your installation, we are there for coaching
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 13:30 Last touches on your work!
13:30 - 16:00 Presentations, reflection + feedback on the week (time subject to
change depending on group sizes), documentation and clean up
09:50 - 10:40 Activity: lecture - an introduction to interaction, design, and hacking by Telemagic! Cyanne van den Houten (they/them) and Ymer Marinus (they/them).
10:40-11:00 Break
11:30 - 12:00 Warming up exercise + school announcements
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:15 Workshop: Making electrotrash into a button with Makey Makey
14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 – 16:00 Continuation
Tuesday: Make your Arcade Oracle
How to work with Arduino, how do you connect buttons and sensors to it and let it communicate with your computer. During this workshop, you’ll connect a button to an Arduino to Processing and let it communicate over serial. If you have experience you can dive into sensor programming!
09:00 - 09:30: Start-up
09:30 - 10:15: Introduction buttons, Arduino and serial communication
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Workshop: making a Arcade Oracle with Arduino and a button
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:15 Tweak your code have fun! Open lab time.
14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 – 16:00 A dive into the sensor guide. How to use a sensor instead of a button
Sharing first ideas of what you would like to make.
Wednesday: (Speculative) Prototyping & Open lab Time
We’ll start the day with fast-paced prototyping sessions where, in small groups, you’ll brainstorm the potential interactive behaviors of different technologies. Part of the workshop is open lab time to freely experiment with your microcontroller, sensors, and Processing (or software to your liking).
You can also suggest topics or requests for the next day!
You can also suggest topics or requests for the next day!
09:00 - 10:15: Prototyping workshop
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Open lab Time
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 15:00 Independent Study Time, we are present in the lab!
Thursday: AI Enhanced Coding + Power of Designing Interfaces
This workshop expores sketching with Processing and Arduino using AI assistance. Large language models can help you quickly test ideas, connect sensors, and build complex circuits. You’ll explore how to use AI both as an assistant and a co-creator—and consider ethical alternatives to big tech dominance.
In the afternoon we explore how your installation include a graphic layer, physical form, or experimental interface that deepens its immersive quality and impact? Our previously made interactive microcontroller circuits are the starting point. We’ll also cover techniques such as: 3D design, 3D printing Woodcutting, Laser cutting etc. These help you design custom enclosures and give physical shape to your project.
In the afternoon we explore how your installation include a graphic layer, physical form, or experimental interface that deepens its immersive quality and impact? Our previously made interactive microcontroller circuits are the starting point. We’ll also cover techniques such as: 3D design, 3D printing Woodcutting, Laser cutting etc. These help you design custom enclosures and give physical shape to your project.
09:00 - 10:15: Workshop: AI-Enhanced LLM-Powered Coding, Ethics, and Hacking
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Experimentation time
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 14:15 Tool Sharing: Power of Designing Interfaces
14:15 - 14:30 Break
14:30 – 16:00 Open lab Time
Friday: Final day :)
More information follows in the week about this day.
09:00 - 11:30 Free work to prepare your installation, we are there for coaching
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break
13:00 - 13:30 Last touches on your work!
13:30 - 16:00 Presentations, reflection + feedback on the week (time subject to
change depending on group sizes), documentation and clean up
Possible Outcomes
These lessons are about experimentation. It's not just about the perfect final piece, but about the different steps you take along the way. Document these so you can show them at the end of the week: through screenshots, videos, and prototypes.
At the end of the week we hope to see a prototype of an interactive artwork. We will look at the technique, concept, and form. This doesn’t mean they all have to carry equal weight in the story you want to tell. It could be that you put a lot of time and energy into one of the three, making the others more supportive.
Collaboration: if it fits with your idea, you are welcome to collaborate on your project.