10,000 people attended this past weekend’s Santiago Mini Maker Faire—more than double last year’s attendance. However impressive the turnout and the fair production design (kudos Pedro Sepulveda & Mil M2 team—incredible work!), the 120+ makers maintained center stage, surprising, teaching and inspiring. You could feel the epiphanies and the delight going off all around.
As a foreign visitor, it was interesting to see even at “the end of the world,” key Maker Movement platforms are established and thriving: Arduino, OpenROV, Raspberry Pi, Nerdy Derby, RepRap—even valet bike parking—all represented.
Chilean makers were strong and diverse, with Makerspace STGO clearly providing connective tissue. (One great example of this: the Makerspace provided a 2 month membership scholarship for 10 deserving Maker Faire applicants, thus welcoming new makers into the community, and delivering new cool content to the fair. Brilliant!)
Imported star talent Jorge Crowe/Argentina; Landfill Harmonic/Paraguay; Gonazlo Frasca/Uruguay; Burnkit, Molecule Synth and Matt Richardson/USA; and Amor Munoz/Mexico helped mix up the scene and generate exchange.
Some compelling evidence:
Can’t forget PissCO, a robotic drink dispensing machine by Nathan Pahucki and Pablo Castro. It was probably the populist hit of the event, mixing potty humor, a national joke, and Raspberry Pi:
Makerspace STGO & Tiburcio de la Carcova: take a bow! and another!
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