AutomataFest 2025 Recap`
This weekend I had the great pleasure of attending the AutomataFest in Hastings, UK. This festival, co-hosted by Cabaret Mechanical Theatre and Automata Magazine brought together hundreds of automata enthusiasts from all over the world to meet and share ideas about this wonderful artform. There were presentations by automata masters like Paul Spooner, Tim Hunkin, Lisa Slater, Fi Henshall, Carlos Zapata, Tom Haney and many many more. As well it was great to set up a giant linkage exploration alongside other brilliant hands-on workshops by Steve Guy and Lou Cousins. As well, one of the biggest highlights for me was how many alumni participants in our Automata Global Tinkering Workshop online course made it out to the event. We’ve been leading this workshop since 2020 and I really felt how much it’s contributed to a sense of community with automata makers around the world.
The AutomataFest took place at the Observer Building which doubles as the home of the Cabaret Mechanical Theater. It was so fun to see the entire building taken up with immersive automata experiences including playful signs made by Lou Cousins and a labyrinthine exhibition in the underground vaults of this former newspaper printing press. Opening up the Mechanical Making Space gave participants the chance to see the wonderful workshop that the CMT has developed for hosting activities, displaying artifacts and automata as well as staging and repairing traveling exhibitions.
I loved seeing the wide variety of automata at every size and scale from tiny fridge magnets to interactive arcade machines. There were pieces made of everything from wood to 3D printed filament to metal to LEGO to cardboard sharing space in the exhibition.
Some of the pieces involved extra elements like dissected toys, reused material and LED lights. Getting immersed in the “wide walls” of automata was an invitation to think differently about subject and bring in personal interest. The presentations and performances celebrated the quirky and whimsical world of automata as well. Paul Spooner entertained with funny anecdotes about the building process, all the makers generously answered questions, Mark Hayward wowed the audience with yo-yo performances and there was even an all-female “Morris Dance” group alongside a moving cardboard representation.
It was also fun to see how the local community could contribute to the celebration of automata. On Saturday, I took some time out from the presentations to get hands on building digital sculptures with servo motors and microcontrollers that responded to real-time environmental data. This experimental workshop was led by OBX, a youth program focused on introducing technology in playful ways that operates in the same building as the CMT. The workshop reminded me of some of the explorations from Natalie Freed and NEXMAP and opened up lots of interesting possibilities for using automata elements for community projects.
On Sunday the format opened up a bit for a more faire style setting with table demonstrations and hands on workshops. Lou Cousin engaged participants in various cardboard automata exercises and Steve Guy invited people to contribute to a motorized version of the ensemble workshop!
I set up a little tinkering space to explore building giant linkages out of cardboard strips and brass paper fasteners. This prompt based on one of the activities in my book “The Tinkering Workshop” gave participants a starting point to develop their own ideas about automata. To create a more immersive and flexible environment, the cardboard “wall” on the outside of the workshop also doubled as a display space for a collaborative installation along with cardboard cranks to automate some of the designs.
I was really excited about the wide variety of creations that people made in the workshop including apple-eating worms, crocodiles, elephants, construction workers, birds, dinosaurs and more! When these automata all were pinned up around the space it was a really fun and complex collection. While this time we started with four bar linkages, I would like to experiment a bit more to lower the threshold to entry and make the initial prompt more engaging. I think some people were a bit intimidated by the size and scale of the constructions so I would like to figure out how to make the workshop more approachable so that more participants could experience the joy and surprise of linkage mechanisms.
The entire three days of the festival were such an amazing chance to connect to interesting people, share ideas and feel a part of an amazing collection artists, makers, writers, performers and enthusiasts. I can’t wait for the next automata gathering to continue the conversation and build the community.