“Worker, build your own machinery!” A workshop to practice the Technological Disobedience

This paper presents an account of the experience of a workshop with the title "Worker, build your own machinery!", held at Politecnico di Milano. The title of the workshop refers to an Ernesto Che Guevara’s quote in a 1961 speech: as the Republic of Cuba’s Minister of Industry, his aim was encouraging Cuban workers and technicians to face the scarcity of resources due to the country’s economic and political crisis. The general approach he suggested to address this issue was selfproduction of the spare parts required for productive activities: this would involve a number of strategies, such as repair, reuse and repurpose. Self-production included a drive towards the re-appropriation of technologies, suitably combining mass-production and handicraft tools. Over time, these practices became common not only in the field of industrial production, but also in everyday life. This workshop was directly inspired by the research work of Ernesto Oroza, designer and Cuban artist, who studied the changes that 50 years of isolation produced on the island’s materiality. The first part of the paper introduces and explains the theoretical concepts on which the workshop was based, whereas the second part exposes and discusses the resulting outcomes. This will include a reflection over the role of design and designers facing the deep social, economic and technological changes we are currently experiencing. These considerations will be aimed at encouraging future designers, emphasising the importance of their educational role and providing inspiration regarding issues, such as repair, reuse and repurpose, which are all essential for a sustainable approach.