(Re)Positioning Maker Culture

Hacker, DIY, and maker cultures have mainstreamed. Their formats and methods are now fashionable aspects of many political, cultural, and educational agendas.

This turn is also evident through the resurgence in craft practices and the emergence of critical design and design activism as potential counterpoints. However, such practices have never existed in isolation. Embedded within wider socio-cultural, economic and political movements, hacker, DIY, and maker cultures have typically positioned themselves against the dominant narratives of the market. This panel addresses what happens when such topographies shift or break down and the influence this change has on individual makers, cultural and corporate agendas, and policy.