Conference on Maker Cultures

The inaugural Conference on Maker Cultures will be held at Concordia University in Montreal, November 18 & 19, 2018. For the very first time, this event will bring top international scholars studying maker culture together with active maker faire participants, scholars and students and the general public. Together, we turn our gaze on the maker movement itself though insight and  discussion around five crucial themes: the corporatization of maker culture, cultural inclusion and exclusion, making as learning, critical making and design education, and maker cultures in everyday life. 

The conference immediately follows the Montreal Mini Maker Faire and uses the occasion and the experience of the faire to engage in constructive critique of maker culture and the futures of making. We know that maker faires are billed as the greatest show and tell on earth but this conference will be the first to dwell at length on the cultural contexts of what gets to be shown and told, who is a maker, and how making and the cultures of making engage with critical practice and pedagogy, as well as progressive and transformative politics. 

The conference begins with a public symposium on Sunday November 18th featuring presentations from distinguished maker culture scholars. This will be a full day of public panels and engaged Q&A periods open to students and scholars, maker culture organizers and professionals, makers and interested members of the public. Explore our exciting roster of speakers and register now for the Sunday November 18th symposium. 

The symposium is followed on Monday November 19th by an academic workshop for invited students, scholars and professionals. This will be a day of guided discussion and agenda setting as we collectively sketch this new and rich research domain. Students and scholars interested in attending the academic workshop should contact the organizers.

Register here.

The Conference on Maker Cultures is organized by Ann-Louise Davidson (Education Technology and CURC in Maker Cultures), Bart Simon (Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Milieux Institute) and Lynn Hughes (emeritus Studio Arts and CURC Interaction Design and Games innovation).