Minitehnicus
2023 - ongoing electronic workshop / research project
In conversation with Jasmina Al-Qaisi
Minitehnicus was a DIY, children's invention competition that was started in 1967 by the ''Cutezătorii'' publication in Communist Romania. In this competition, children would submit their inventions created most of the time with very modest means since electronic parts were costly and inaccessible. In the first edition, inventions such as a current reduction system made with Lemonade by a student from Pucioasa or an electric pantograph made from junk (pieces of old cable, refurbished transformers... ).
The competition became so famous internationally that it was censored. Today, Romania is one of the leading European technology hubs.
This workshop proposes reconstructing collectively the circuit ideas and inventions created by the children of those times. Machines from lemonade, cybernetic cats and dogs and electronic labyrinths are to be converted into musical instruments.