Switzerland: Oscillations from the HomeMade super camp
HomeMade is an annual week-long mechatronic research retreat, hosted in different remote locations across Switzerland. The camp is designed to foster DIY (Do-It-Yourself) and DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) practices in an off-the-grid environment. From 1st to 10th of August, the camp brought together 109 participants and infinite projects at a Swiss Gästehaus on the Untersee of Constance Lake. Chrysa Chouliara, the 2025 Makery summer chronicler-in-residency for the Rewilding Cultures program, shares her impressions of this unique edition of the Swiss event.
“Hacker artists operate as culture hackers who manipulate existing techno-semiotic structures towards a different end, to get inside cultural systems on the net and make them do things they were never intended to do.”
Jenny Marketou, greek multidisciplinary artist, lecturer & author, in an interview with Cornelia Solfrank in 2000.
The first time I joined a summer camp, I was around nine years old. After one week of maladjustment among my peers, my unsupervised existence away from home ended in the back seat of my parents’ car—with Band-Aid-covered legs and two different shoes.
Since then, the only camp I’ve consistently returned to is the HomeMade camp in Switzerland. Organized by SGMK (Swiss Mechatronic Art Society), it takes place each year in a different location—from abandoned chocolate factories to remote castles—offering a unique DIY-or-die, off-the-grid atmosphere, filled with a constellation of people from all over the world.
20 years of HomeMade camps
This year, HomeMade lasted ten days instead of the usual week. The reason behind this is its 20-year anniversary. Most associations organize summer camps so that members can get to know each other better and dive into their favorite subjects. In the case of SGMK, it was the other way around—the association was formed after the third edition of the HomeMade camp.
The camp acts both as the glue that holds this community together and as the spark that ignites new projects. Unsurprisingly, its tight-knit community and international guests share a similar mindset. Their span between electronic music, art, science, and technology, with a strong focus on “hacking” in its broadest sense. SGMK members often join forces to creatively push the limits of systems, devices, programs, or objects—whether by building DIY synthesizers, transforming webcams into USB microscopes, or even attempting to reset the monitors of pregnancy tests.
We all arrive at the Wartburg, a guest house in Mannenbach, sweating and panting from the climb up the hill. The Gasthaus sits above the lake, its scenic view competing with the swarm of familiar faces meeting and greeting. From the corner of my eye I catch Paul Tas- AKA Error Instruments. Paul didn’t exactly have an easy start. School was a struggle, dyslexia turned the basics into battles, and somewhere along the way he picked up the nickname Error — lifted from the “syntax error” screens that blinked across early computers. But instead of dodging mistakes, he leaned into them, turning glitches, slips, and wrong turns — all stitched together with modern microcontrollers. The outcome: small batches of bizarre, wild and stylish instruments.
With 109 people attending this year, the logistics was tough, but self-organization thrived once again. True to the camp’s name, everything was made — and maintained — by the participants, cooking and cleaning included. We enjoy the specialties of chefs who serve us Algerian, Indian, Slovenian, or Japanese dinners.
Hacklab in the wood house
Under the main building, almost hidden by towering trees, a seemingly endless stairway leads down to the Waldhaus — the “forest house,” where all the musicians and many workshop practitioners are busy setting up their lair.
I’m excited to see, among others, Quentin Aurat — a multidisciplinary practitioner from France whose performance with his DIY spring instrument, Poutr, I had adored during the ArtLabo Retreat. His work moves between art and technology, dissecting transmission protocols, human media devices, and the strange poetry of their artifacts. A self-taught musician, Aurat’s practice is rooted in improvisation, and his performance at HomeMade would prove it.
Late at night midway down, a glowing light-and-smoke installation by Charon Obulus cuts through the dark shadows. I walk into a translucent tent that envelopes a pool filled with water and floating. Mesmerising as it may be it’s a warm night night perfect for night swimming. I glance right, then left, and after I make sure none’s around I jump into the pool. I am neither the first nor the last to take an opportunistic approach to this art work.
By the following morning, the Waldhaus had been transformed into a DIY paradise, every inch covered with electronics, where the soldering never stopped. A quieter room in the back is set as a radio station for interviews.
Listen to Paula Pin & Alfonso Millán Omil jam session (online and on FM in Mulhouse):
In 2007 Claude built his first Atari Punk Console at SGMK. It was here he got infected by the electronic DIY virus. Ever since, he’s been building his very own synthesizers with unusual oscillations, and has deepened his interest in circuit bending. From this he evolved his current project FlipFloater.
Listen to Flip Floater jam session for p-node radio (online and on FM in Mulhouse):
In similar fashion Swiss musician Oliver Jäggi, AKA Omega Attraktor, builds his own instruments— where improvisation turns technology into an instrument of surprise.
Only once a day, and somewhat reluctantly, would the participants climb the gargantuan stairway back up to the main house for dinner. It’s even a bigger effort after enjoying night jam sessions.
Do you speak Braille?
Hugues Aubin, invited by the Archipelago Synergies project, as an advocate of fablabs and the maker spirit. In a self-sewn gown, presented ForgeCC — a bottom-up platform for sharing skills through fablabs and open-source tools. The idea is simple: propose a workshop, get it approved, carry it out, document it. No bureaucracy, just manuals and shared knowledge. Within a year, 30+ workshops popped up across 11 countries.
One of the most interesting projects presented was the BrailleRAP. Braille is a form of written language for blind people, in which characters are represented by patterns of raised dots that are felt with the fingertips.
Access to electronic braille devices (refreshable braille displays) and embossers (braille printers) can be very expensive, creating a financial barrier for many blind people and educators that need to prepare small batches of texts for the students. BrailleRAP is an open source DIY Braille embosser that anyone can build, share or even sell.The device has the potential to help since it cuts off the costs and anyone can transcode text to Braille and then emboss it on paper.
Presentation of the BrailleRAP, a DIY open source Braille embosser (2023):
The beauty of Hugues Aubin’s presentation lay in its alignment with the founding of a new board for the Friends of Linux University, established by Michel Pauli and Chanceline Ngainku Pauli in Cameroon. This project teaches programming and applied solar technology in a rural school, where students learn to code webpages, explore robotics, and build solar water pumps, among other skills. Friends of Linux also hosts an artist and maker residency, which has welcomed past visitors such as Miranda Moss and Urs Gaudenz from Gaudi Lab (read Makery’s article by Miranda Moss from 2024).
For kids and grown-ups
Every day everyone is geeking around working on their projects or attending planned and impromptu workshops or radio discussions. I am no exception—I keep working on my graphic novel Fluffy. The talks I have with everyone late at night helps my process.
At noon most of us head to the lake. Most of us enjoy a long relaxing swim but others are working on their “aviation” projects flying their handmade airplanes on the shores of Lake Constance. In a rather paradoxical episode one of the planes nearly landed on my head. For a moment the thought of dying in a plane crash while swimming entertains my imagination.
It would not be fair to forget to mention that HomeMade is a kids friendly event, and that many of the parents came with great imagination to propose fun workshops to the kids.
Many musicians, many spirits
As the week draws to a close, the final event unfolds—music performances spanning from the early afternoon until the next morning. Monica Pocrnjić, our head chef for the closing night nicknames the dish “trauma therapy,” as we gather to mercilessly chop 22 kilos of onions. Tears flow amongst laughter; this isn’t a job for one person, which is why every cooking team had five members — plus the occasional spontaneous volunteer.
There’s no fixed stage for the concerts; instead, we drift through the forest and between the two houses, guided by the schedule. Each musician has built their own setup, turning every corner into the next concert.
Some say HomeMade week is the shortest week of the year—but even ten days of the Supercamp feel far too short for many of us. As our trunks pile up in front of Gasthaus Wartburg, we can’t help but feel a little… HOMELESSMADE.
At the end of the day it is all about making PCB’s not War.
More on HomeMade and the Archipelago Tour.