The Technological Disobedience of Ernesto Oroza

When Cuba fell into crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union, artist Ernesto Oroza was just graduating with a degree in industrial design in a country with no industry or use for his skills. Almost all the engineers had abandoned Cuba forty years earlier during the revolution, so even before the “Special Period” of the early 1990s people had to improvise their own technology with cast-off parts. Oroza and a fellow artist Diango Hernandez collected these improvised objects: things like TV antennas made from aluminum food trays, motorized bicycles and washing machine motors turned into incredibly dangerous fans (and even more dangerous table saws!). Oroza termed the extreme DIY ethos of the Cuban people, “technological disobedience.”

Visit Oroza’s website for many hundreds of examples of technological disobedience. I’m particularly fond of his photos of improvised urban seating.

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  1. The summer edition of CRAFTSMANSHIP Quarterly had a very interesting article on Cuban inventors who have had to use the supplies available. https://craftsmanship.net/
    I am very interested in this ‘make do’ mentality. Love it!

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