Bricolabs

Bricolabs aims to build a global platform to investigate the new loop of open content, software and hardware for community applications, bringing people together with new technologies and wireless connectivity, unlike the current dominant IT focus which is on security, surveillance, transparancy and control. Bricolabs is a collaborative exchange between Brazilian, Indonesian, UK, Chinese,French, Dutch and other 'messy ambient labs' and open source experts, exploring mutual interest in distributed generation of tools and soft/hardware skills. We focus on 'gambiarra', on knowledge exchange, development of new business models, faithful social networking and the building of a critical discourse for the current and next generation of young artists, designers and social scientists. The idea is to draw on the expertise of all experimental places that have the conceptual grasp of taking advantage of low tech and the full loop of open content, software and hardware for working locally in the communities and globally as no longer a countermovement against wild capital, IP and patents but as potentially a parallel one.