Sound Studies and Sonic Arts | Universität der Künste | Berlin
Summer Term 2026 | Phase: Focus Module: Practice
Course Title: Collaborative DIY Practice | Workshop | May 4-8, 2026
Instructor: Darsha Hewitt (She/Her) Email: studio@darsha.org
Course Description
Collaborative DIY Practice is a rigorous hands-on introduction to DIY electronics that creates empowering encounters with sound by opening up its physical infrastructures. Drawing on media-archaeological approaches, feminist hacking strategies, and post-digital methodologies, this workshop demystifies sound technologies through direct material engagement. Participants will learn through deconstruction, reverse engineering, and playful material-led exploration (rather than memorizing equations and formulas).
Taking place at the Mehrzweckhalle at Flutgraben e.V., the workshop provides an open and supportive learning environment where students gain practical knowledge about tools and techniques for intuitive experimentation, develop troubleshooting skills, and discover how electronic components actually behave through lively hands-on inquiry.
Inspired by Fluxus Happenings and Hack Lab formats, we will learn, build, eat, and collaborate together each day, culminating in a public participatory event on May 8th. This collective presentation will invite audiences to experience sound as a spontaneous, multidisciplinary, and collaborative practice.
This workshop is for students who want to explore collaborative art-making methods where experimentation, risk-taking, and discovery shape the process. No previous experience with DIY electronics is required—people who consider themselves beginners are especially encouraged to join.
Since we will be staging an event, it is especially useful if everyone brings diverse skills and perspectives to the course, whether that’s soldering experience, conceptual thinking, organizational abilities, documentation skills, or simply enthusiasm and willingness to try new things.