Fun guns

Type | Workshop    Year | 2025    Project site | Rotterdam, Netherlands

Client | OMI.     Participants | 5-20    Tools | 2 compressors + 2 nail guns + nails 

“Are you tired of sitting in an office, disconnected from the tangible outcomes of your work? Do you question the promise of happiness endlessly deferred to some distant future? What about today? What about now? What about the urgency and desire to create, just waiting to be unleashed? There is no time to waste! Join the Fun Guns workshop at OMI and experience the joy of instant creation through hands-on activities guided by one simple rule: no plan, only play. Together, we will explore how improvisational building with waste materials can unlock the immediacy of the creative process. By stripping away hierarchies, extractive systems, and standardized components, we prioritize improvisation, adaptability, and trial and error, and emphasize autonomy and self-building as tools for community empowerment.”

Phase 1: Scavenging - Participants, guided by Studio-Method, embarked on a scavenging mission around nearby Rotterdam streets. The city became a treasure trove of discarded materials. Along the way, we shared tips on where and how to find reusable waste, how to access dumpsters safely, and what to look for. Some participants collected materials for the next phase, while others picked out curious objects to take home. The hunt itself became a creative exercise, reframing the city as a resource.

Phase 2: Co-Creation - Back at the gallery, we used the gathered materials to build a single, co-created structure. Armed with two nail guns, participants took turns of five minutes, working quickly and intuitively. The challenge was to embrace instability and constant repair as central features, rather than flaws, engaging in a dynamic, playful, and improvisational process of collective assemblage.