Creative Mornings Freiburg (Camino)

Last month I had the chance to present at the local chapter of Creative Mornings at the Carl-Schurz-Haus library space. This series of talks takes place around the world with monthly themes suggested by local members. I was really excited to share about the theme of Camino (way/path in Spanish) which doesn’t just relate to the unlikely tinkering journey I’ve taken to get from San Francisco to Freiburg with lots of unexpected stops in between.

The topic also feels meaningful to me because I think the most crucial aspect of a tinkering activity is that the participant charts their own path through exploring art science and technology. We don’t know the final destination or all the stops along the way but the process takes precedent. This can look like the way a learner creates a art machine or marble run but also holds true for longer-term projects like my goal of setting up a pop-up workshop or museum here in Freiburg.

It was great to share a bit about my plans for helping to develop a creative tinkering ecosystem here in Freiburg and chat with the participants but it doesn’t really make sense to just talk about tinkering. I wanted to make sure that there was also the chance to play a bit ourselves and get hands on with materials. In the spirit of path/way I decided to bring the elements to explore wind-up toy powered art machines that trace their movements across the table, showing a record of the journey. It was really fun to get the chance to experiment and create with the group and hear their reflections about the experience.