Hi Goshers,
We’ve got a challenge and need the help of those who like experiments and lights and hardware (that gives us a big pool here, no?).
We need to find out what’s the best way to make hundreds of DIY lights with the local community we are working with as part project called Laboratorio el Sombrero. We want to have the smallest possible environmental footprint and hopefully reuse materials which would otherwise go to trash. When the lights are ready, we will go up an urban hill at dawn and wait until it gets dark to turn the lights on and “show” how the hill and its neighborhoods as a rather segregated space can become something else with our collective work. So this activity is a mix between DIYfun+urban activism.
We got a small grant to run the workshop to make the lights and go up the hill. But our plan is to run at least 3 other previous workshops to make sure the lights are ready for the big day, but also because the idea is that people who learn to make the lights can invite their friends or family for the following workshop and teach them the technique themselves (and eventually improve the lights).
This is part of a program called Age of Wonderland and its 2017 edition called 100 Days of Learning, an initiative organized by Dutch organizations Hivos and Baltan Laboratories.
As you can imagine we want to try avoid the use of batteries, or use the least possible. Our idea is to turn the lights for at least 10 minutes when we go up the hill (we will also need them as lanterns, to show us the way down). The idea is that the lights can be seen from afar, from different points in the city.
Most people participating won’t have any previous experience making lights or playing with anything similar to that. The big workshop day will take place a bit before mid June.
We are now exploring the dynamo option, what you think?
Help!!
Gracias miles,
Paz
I’ll have a look now