Research

Stockholm Makerspace has been a part of a few research papers.

Are you an researcher interested in the Makerspace? Email info@makerspace.se

Modifications to machines

Over the years we have done extensive modifications to much of our equipment. Our modifications to our laser cutter has been the subject of a paper.

Modding the Pliable Machine: Unpacking the Creative and Social Practice of Upkeep at the Makerspace

Sydow et al

ISBN: 9781450393270

Abstract

As digital fabrication machines have become more accessible and widely available, practitioners in maker communities have become increasingly responsive to the opportunities to achieve bespoke modifications, known colloquially as ‘modding’. Drawing on interviews with five experienced makers who engage in modding a laser cutter, along with ethnographic observations of maker-machine interactions, we analyse makers’ experiences and ‘war stories’ to frame modding as a prevalent but less explored maker activity. We highlight how makers care for machines, how they cope with risks when engaging in modding, and how mods are essentially creative projects. Based on our findings, we present the conceptualisation of the ‘pliable machine’ – a socio-technical system constituted by, (1) an accessible machine that can be altered, (2) maker skills that go beyond intended use, and (3) a surrounding ‘maker culture’ of caring, sharing and experimentation. Treating the machine as a material offers an alternative perspective on our interactions with technology; we show how the laser cutter becomes pliable in the hands of those who mod.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3527927.3532804

Interviews and Visits

We have had several researches visit over the years, see what we do and interview some of our members.

Opening workshops: Pragmatic commoning and degrowth transformations in a neoliberal Nordic welfare state

Author: Corinna Burkhart

ISBN: 978-91-8104-719-6

Abstract

Alternative building as an interstitial mode of transformation plays a central role in the discussion of strategies for degrowth. In this debate the questions of how alternative projects can be scaled up and how degrowth politics can gain broad societal support have been identified as crucial. In this context open workshops – grassroots infrastructures for creative activities, such as repair, upcycling, repurposing, prototyping, building and experimentation – have been framed as commons, enabling post-capitalist practices and therewith contributing to social-ecological transformations. I focus on open workshops in Sweden, a neoliberal Nordic welfare state. The open workshops I investigate are organised as associations. I contextualise associations in Sweden as a crucial part of society, while they, however, exist in a tension between a historical welfare state ideal and a neoliberal reality. With the dissertation I examine, how open workshops are organised in Sweden; which challenges co-organisers meet; and what can be learned from these practices and challenges beyond their specific contexts. I investigate these questions empirically with the help of participant observations, interviews and documents. In the analysis I argue that the process of co-organisation in open workshops in Sweden can be understood as pragmatic commoning. Finding and accessing suitable and affordable premises as well as encouraging responsible engagement of association members are crucial for the co-organised open workshops. Commoning practices develop over time and in struggle against embodied neoliberal values and practices. The thesis suggests that such pragmatic commoning can inspire local transformation of social imaginaries when dominant perceptions are in contradiction to desired practices. The case of pragmatic commoning shows how post-capitalist degrowth values can multiply beyond explicit degrowth projects. In conclusion, the thesis asks how degrowth advocates can work strategically with pragmatic non-exploitative practices that emerge within existing institutions and projects. The focus for possible transformation lies here on the contextualized social imaginary and its everyday enactment and reproduction.

Online pdf