Adam Hyde, Julian Priest and David Merritt

A Geekosystem

23 Feb — 22 Mar 2008

As the world becomes ever more interconnected and interdependent, our ability to control and influence technology has become distorted. Our technological decisions are mainly voiced only at the checkout, as consumers at the far end of tenuous supply lines that stretch back to the factories of China and the intellectual property owners of the US.

With the rise in issues of sustainability and a renewed questioning of the limits of endless economic growth, our relationships with a wide range of technologies are being re-evaluated. There is a widespread desire to relocalise, to interact with technology at a human scale that is controllable by individuals and small groups without access to full scale research and development infrastructures or huge capital resources.

Through their collaborative project A Geekosystem, Adam Hyde and Julian Priest present an opportunity to vote with your hands and trade the freedom to choose for the freedom to make. In preparation for a self-provided future, Hyde and Priest will lead a series of experimental workshops in advance of the project’s opening to create A Geekosystem from the workshop contributors’ favourite devices as they celebrate the current state of the DIY art.

Rather than focus on independence, autonomy, or off-grid living, A Geekosystem explores interdependence, interconnection and collaborative action. Consequently, Hyde and Priest hope to engage and focus a community around a shared and open ended pursuit - a contemporary barn-raising with no blueprint.