This six week programme has been designed to explore the combination of art and engineering. The workshops will be led by experienced facilitator Ryan Jenkins from Wonderful Idea Co. and supported by a small team of international educators who will guide you through a variety of mediums and practical elements building several automata prototypes.

Through the online workshops you will become part of a community of makers with virtual visits to Cabaret Mechanical Theatre artists’ studios, access to exclusive artist interviews and opportunities to discover and meet emerging international automata artists.

As part of your registration you will receive by post a specially designed Automata Tinkering Global Workshop Kit before the sessions begin.

The kit will included:

• Automata Tinkering Kit
• Cardboard Automata Kit
• Cranky Contraption Kit
• Cabaret Mechanical Movement handbook

‘This workshop was a great experience for me, an important experience. I started making automata maybe 2 years ago, learning by myself thanks to all resources I could find on the net. But this workshop accelerated my learning and was great fun. I would like to say a great thank you to the whole team, Ryan, Sarah and all instructors for your generosity! Thank you to all the artists for letting us discover the backstage…. And thank you to all the participants, learning and progressing together was a great chance for me. It’s a great community. Will keep posting on the padlet!’ ES participant Sept 2021.

Fish in Frocks by Loulou Cousin. Image Esme Fisher. A Town Explores A Book Festival 2021.

WHEN

Tuesdays from 10 May to 14 June 2022

• 4-6 pm UK-GMT,
• 8-10am PT,
• 5-7pm in Europe CET

WHO

This workshop is suitable for all abilities and experience levels if you are comfortable developing your own creative ideas and experimenting with us.

It is perfect for you if:

• You want to find out more about automata, who makes them and how they are built
• You are an educator who wants to inspire adults and children with tinkering or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts & maths) activities
• You are a practicing artist who wants to experiment with building kinetic sculptures
• You work on personal projects in your spare time and want to add a new medium for expression
• You are interested in engaging with a group of practitioners in different fields
• We generally limit the age to 16 years old+ though exceptions can be made where appropriate.

EQUIPMENT

You will need:

• a computer with a good internet connection,
• a place to work (kitchen table, workshop, garage)
• the ability to procure a set of common household materials from a provided list.

Violet by Erica Smith. Image Esme Fisher. A Town Explores A Book Festival 2021.

Course Outline

The workshop will be conducted in spoken English with audiovisual materials such as slides, examples and video. All classes will be held over Zoom.

The course is being delivered as a real-time class, where participants and facilitators will interact live. The maximum number of participants will be 24, to ensure a low facilitator to participant ratio. We will combine working as a group and in smaller break-out sessions so you will also have personalised attention and interaction.

The sessions are recorded for later viewing and a week by week online resource is available to all participants that documents each session with practical advice and tips.

Workshops content

Tuesday 10 May – Week One

Welcome and Introductions – What is automata? – History of CMT

Practical Session: Cranky Contraptions

Tuesday 17 May – Week Two

Cams and Cranks - Engineering Principles - Motions and Mechanisms

Practical Session with guest artist Stephen Guy: Cardboard Automata

Tuesday 24 May – Week Three

Artist Studio Tour - Testing and Troubleshooting - Linkages

Practical Session with Sarah Alexander: Introducing CMT’s Automata Tinkering Kit

Tuesday 31 May – Week Four

Artist Interview - Simple Circuits - Motors and Switches

Practical Session: Electromechanical Experiments

Tuesday 7 June – Week Five

Design Process - Expanded Materials - Emerging Artist Spotlight

Practical Session: Personal Automata Exploration

Tuesday 14 June – Week Six

Experimental Extensions - Artist Interview - Reflection and Sharing - Taking it Further

Practical Session: Personal Automata Exploration.

About our course facilitator Wonderful Idea Co:

Wonderful Idea Co. is a creative design studio founded in 2017 by Ryan Jenkins and Nicole Catrett that develops resources to support the exploration of art science and technology through making and tinkering. They have led workshops around the world for hundreds of creative educators.

https://wonderfulidea.co

Learning Online:

This workshop has been adapted to function in the current covid-19 moment of experimentation with online teaching and learning. While not the primary focus of the workshop, the session will be a chance for participants to see a model of hands-on tinkering workshop in a virtual setting.

Price:

Early Bird until 8 March 2022 £375.00

Full Price until 5 April 2022 £425.00

Registration closes 5 April 2022 to allow for materials to be sent to participants.

We will be offering a limited number of partial scholarships for those in need of a fee reduction. We are especially interested in participants who come from non traditional backgrounds and/or who work with underrepresented audiences.

You can apply for a scholarship by emailing sarah@cabaret.co.uk and letting us know how much tuition support you would need with a short description of why you are interested in attending. We regret that we will not be able to offer a fee reduction to everyone but hope to pursue other funding options for future online/in-person sessions.

Ryan Jenkins, Wonderful Idea Co.