#MTFSparks: teenage music hackers

At Music Tech Fest events in the past, we have run a kids hack event alongside our main pro 24-hour hack camp. The #MTFkids hack has been open to children as young as 6 years old and has always included teens. We’ve provided a range of different activities for different ages and skills, and they have naturally divided into separate groups of older and younger hackers.

At #MTFBerlin, we created an entirely separate event - inviting 12-16 year-old sparks to get their hands dirty with microboards, electronics, computer code and conductive jelly to make new instruments.

With the help of leading UK educational experts Siobhan Ramsey, Tom Flynn and Daniel Lopez of Sandbox Education, in collaboration with creative education expert Alexandra Antonopoulou, the #MTFSparks built, tested and then performed with their new inventions on the main stage at the festival.

Markus, Sonja and Louise explain their projects in these short videos.

Hack in a box

Tom Flynn from the Sandbox Education team is also part of an exciting project called Museum in a Box.

Museum in a Box allows for cultural objects, postcards, 3d prints and even invented instruments like the #MTFSparks ‘Noisy Jelly’ hack projects to make their way around schools, homes and offices in a way that shares the knowledge and invites further participation.

We’re big fans of the Museum in a Box idea. Loaded with a digital brain and triggered by RFID chips, it works without a screen, exploring the benefits of tangible interaction in the classroom, and demonstrating how touching objects can help people develop a stronger connection to them. We think it’s a fantastic way to share the kind of knowledge that happens at Music Tech Fest.

Find out more about Museum in a Box.