Global Award for Digital Fabrication YouFab 2018 Winning Works Announcement

Grand Prize work raises interesting questions about the contemporary ecosystem with goldfish and technology

The winner of the Grand Prize of YouFab 2018 is Fish Hammer by British-born Neil Mendoza, who resides in the United States. In Fish Hammer, the goldfish swims around the aquarium, unaware of the sensor above which is communicating its movement to the hammer outside. The fish moves and the hammer crashes down on the miniature furniture outside. This work raises questions related to the influence of humans on the ecosystem.

Judge Gerfried Stocker’s Comment
We might think we are the fish controlling the hammer but soon we recognize that the interrelations of an ecosystem are not that simple and maybe we are rather the ones getting hit by the hammer.

“Fish Hammer” makes you smile and think twice at the same time. It has a good sense of humor but is far from just being funny. With its cleverly staged scenario it is a highly thoughtful work of art, addressing in an unconventional but effective way some of the core issues of the antropocene and our present days struggle with finding a sustainable and responsible balance in the human induced impact on nature. Neil Mendoza has a quite fascinating body of work with a high overall quality and consistency which was another strong reason for the jury to award him. 

The First Prize
A knit work reflecting the brain waves of factory workers

The First Prize work, called Mind in the Machine, was created by America-born Ani Liu. This piece takes the brainwave signals of the factory worker and programs the machine to create a knit that reflects her cognitive states. It is a project that reflects on the mark of the human hand in the age of mechanical production, as well as all of the anonymous human contributions involved in an economy of automation.

Judge Chiaki Hayashi’s comment
We are faced with questions about the relationship between machines and humans in many parts of our lives. Machines were meant to provide support for humans, but upon closer consideration, humans are under the control of machines. An encounter with such a situation at a Chinese knitwear factory led to a unique concept that reconsiders the link between the workers and the finished garments — a program that weaves the fabric loosely and gently when workers are relaxed, but when workers are under stress, pulls the stitches tightly together as they are woven. By doing so, the finished garments seem to give a voice to the many anonymous workers who sustain mass production behind the scenes.

A work which focuses on the future where work and living blend together, the Lion Awards awarded to nature-hacking work

For YouFab 2018, the Special Prize by the Lion Corporation was established. For this special prize, judges analyzed products, services, art works and projects with the theme, “​A future where work and life merge together​”. After the Judgement review, the project “Hack the Natural Objects.” by Japanese creative team, Gadara was chosen. This device incorporates features such as sensors into “natural objects” such as stones and branches. Through these sensors, users can control output such as volume and brightness by changing the natural object’s positioning. This work explores a scenery where natural things blend seamlessly with technology in an everyday setting.

In the General Award was awarded to the work Typhoon I by creator Michael Koehle. Typhoon I is an image of a wave generated by a typhoon transformed into a relief made of paper strips. The collaborative project Fusion by MHD Yamen Saraiji and Tomoya Sasaki won this year’s Student Award. Fusion uses telepresence technology where multiple people share one body.