Art-renovation of old computer equipment

Old computer equipment needs to be put somewhere. Send iron to the dump immoral, and in terms of ecology wrong. For decades, the equipment rotting at the landfills ejects a huge amount of toxic compounds into the atmosphere, therefore, they successfully and successfully utilize it for a long time, but besides this kind of death and rebirth there is another way.

There is a way to solve the issue with outdated gadgets, which is not similar to the usual utilization, analysis for parts, upgrade and "second life" in the form of a simple typewriter or media center. The peculiarity of the unusual method (you can call it “the third life”) in universality: you can use any mechanism again, be it a computer mouse or an old non-working motherboard. This is a new type of art, at the junction of cyberpunk and digital art.

Monitors and Photo Frames

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Monitor renovation is one of the first ideas in the field of the use of old technology. The ready decision in an image "window to the world".

It is hard to believe, but from the usual display (or digital photo frame), which mimics under the geek picture, they even launched a project on Kickstarter. The E01 project is a 23-inch matte HD display with ultra-simple characteristics that display static images, various java-scripts and gifs.



The project raised $ 787,000 (with the required $ 25,000) and was far from the only one. The rival Framed collected $ 529,000 and lured buyers into working in mirror mode, as it had a front-facing camera that could be used to control the “photo frame” with gestures.



E01 was controlled by an application on a smartphone: it was possible to upload various pictures as well as schedule their display.

Do I need to spend a few hundred dollars? No, this solution, which leads to "high art", is capable of repeating at home, simply without throwing almost any display into the dustbin.

DIY Gadgets

Quantum theory becomes the material object of the visible part of the universe, if you have a grandmother's chest and some wires. However, you will not find a definitive answer to the question “what is it?”. The project is called Interactive Video Art Objects (IVAO) and is a retro-futuristic creation, reminiscent of the style of objects from films of Terry Gilliam's Brazil and 12 Monkeys.



The creation of the “boxes” of a media artist was inspired by the quantum theory of light, which states that light particles (photons) simultaneously possess wave and particle (ie, particle-related) properties. The duality of the theory is reflected both in the design and in the principle of action of the IVAO.


Looks like a simple projector? Almost guessed. There are two interconnected controllers: one to create "waves", the other to produce "particles." The projector superimposes on each other optical outlets from the boxes to create a combined animated image of waves and particles in a simple analogy of quantum reality.

For the creation of IVAO , wooden plates, an old first-aid kit, a cheap display, levers and sliders from sites selling components for robot building, and several small parts from a hardware store were used. In general, any person engaged in DIY, will find everything you need in your desk. Even if you are tired of the old microcontroller - do not rush to throw it away. Suddenly you will need to make an object of art.

Eternal and endless keyboard

Creating unique things using unusual objects is art, but only a few things in art can survive multiple rebirths in a world where there is always a shortage of time and resources.

Cyberpunk fathers would be delighted to learn that a regular keyboard is capable of a long life after death. Various artists have managed to create many beautiful things from unused and outdated keyboards, taking recycling technology to a new level.



The Chinese artist created a huge viper from a variety of keys of old keyboards . And I did not forget about the computer mouse.



A bench made from Baltic birch and almost 2,000 keyboard keys.



Great decoration for your desktop (real, made of wood which).



If you have a lot of old keyboards, try to assemble one Japanese one. In fact, this is just a concept and an art object styled as a drum kit. As planned by the authors, you should type the keys by hitting them with chopsticks. The keyboard has eight panels and contains a large number of characters, up to the popular emoticons.

Motherboard in terms of canvas

We have long been accustomed to paintings made from old boards, but the artist Peter MacFarlane was able to revive computer waste, rethinking their artistic value: it combines boards with discarded sculptures, installations and even backgrounds of paintings.



Italian artist Franco Recchia connects computer parts into miniatures of urban panoramas. Recchia worked on the models of New York, Chicago, Detroit.



On the reddite they laid out the "map" of Helsinki, created from old motherboards. If you have been to Helsinki, you will probably find out some places.



World map of the boards. But this is not the most interesting thing that can be made from pieces of filling the system unit.



The fashion for various decorations from the boards has gone so far that shops have appeared that specialize only in products from recycled computer garbage.



Coffee table, created from centner outdated technology.



The skull of old computer hardware was made by Intel to promote the Skulltrail platform back in 2008. The platform was forgotten, and the skull was remembered for years.

Conclusion

A table lamp assembled from outdated Sony PlayStation, a horse figure from old smartphones and Mona Lisa, which appeared thanks to ASUS motherboards - all these items prove that there are no barriers in the art-processing of the old technology. The ideas of methods for recycling all e-waste into objects that can be used again and again are limited only by imagination. You can make sculptures, paintings or make modding still working computers. Next time we will think about how to use old equipment in the Mail.Ru Group office (we have several outstanding samples of ancient laptops). In the meantime, the team of our DIY community on the last Valentine's Day gathered a “wall of love”, in which online valentines materialized into origami hearts.