A Look Back at FAB24 Mexico
Published on August 20th, 2024
We tend to describe our annual FABx conference as though it were a single event. And while this may be convenient for marketing purposes, it oversimplifies the beautifully complex nature of the rich and sprawling multisensory adventure. Like most other projects born of the international Fab Lab Network, the event is best viewed as a series of distinct but complementary interactions that very intentionally feed into and support one another. Part education conference, part maker meetup, part social movement, it offers participants countless opportunities to engage with colleagues across the broad network over the course of multiple weeks, promoting deep personal and professional connections and giving life to new collaborations that will thrive for years to come. The task of summarizing such an experience is no small feat, but we’ll do our best to paint the picture here for those who were unable to attend this year.
FAB24 Mexico began on July 26, when the eight teams participating in the Fab City Challenge Mexico gathered in person to launch their respective campaigns across the country, addressing the topmost social, economic, or environmental concerns of local communities with the shared talents of a global brain trust applying the technologies of digital fabrication. During this same time, the Future Fabrics Mexico working group was hosted by Fab Lab Yucatán, in Mérida, launching an immersive journey into indigenous culture via the tradition of Mayan weaving. Meanwhile, the stage was being set for the ARTeFAB Expo at the Centro Cultural de San Roque in Puebla’s historic center.
One week later, participants of all programs came together for the Fab Festival, a free, public event held August 3-4 at CIEN in the bustling cultural hub of San Andrés Cholula, Puebla. Here, Challenge teams showcased the results of the previous week’s effort through interactive presentations to festival attendees. Ultimately, two teams were awarded prizes for their impactful techno-social solutions. The picturesque venue also provided a perfect space for the Global Kids group to host a number of fun and engaging hands-on workshops to teach local youth the techniques and origins of various artisanal traditions from around the world. Overall, the weekend gathering served as a light introduction to some of the core content to be featured throughout the conference over the coming week.
On Monday, August 5, the 20th annual Fab Lab Conference & Symposium officially opened on the beautiful, breezy campus of Ibero Puebla, which houses the highly sophisticated IDIT Fab Lab. The five-day program was absolutely packed with content, each piece a waypoint along the path toward Fabricating Equity, the main theme of this year’s conference. Featuring expert-led symposia on Technology 5.0, Future-Proof Skills, Cultural Equity, Innovative Industries, and Community Innovation & Impact; multiple rounds of Fab Blasts—five-minute lightning talks—that touched on everything from sustainable development and circular economics to youth engagement and community organizing; and a staggering variety of hands-on workshops and intensive working groups for participants to thoroughly explore the themes being discussed, the nine hours available each day were just barely adequate to squeeze in all the learning.
Watch the recorded livestream of all five symposium days here.
Over the course of a week, attendees learned about a number of exciting new Fab initiatives, which aim to move beyond tracking the establishment of new Fab Labs to demonstrating the real social impact of the global Fab Lab Network. New additions to the growing list include DistInc, a globally distributed business incubator; Fab Futures, a 21st-century vocational training program in active development; Fab Jobs, a portal to connect Academany alumni with prospective employers; Panopticom, a global platform for visualizing and sharing geodata—led by singer Peter Gabriel; Fab City Technologies, an effort to develop the technology base for cities across the globe to produce what they consume; HyTech, an open material initiative for the sustainable, local production of hygiene technologies; Fab 2.0 Portal, an open index of Fab Lab machines that can be made in a Fab Lab—including such projects as Fab-in-a-Box; the Fab Lab Store, a platform where Fab Lab products can be sourced globally, then produced and sold locally; the Fab Hub, a new headquarters for the Fab Foundation and a flagship Fab Lab that will serve as a connection point between the Greater Boston community and the international Fab Lab Network; and, finally, Fablab.org, a newly refreshed directory of the Fab Lab ecosystem and its many intersecting points.
Each of the above programs is committed to celebrating the people power of this extraordinarily talented network. Most are designed, specifically, to serve Academany graduates and their unique skillsets, which were on proud display at the conference. During our annual commencement ceremony, we celebrated the accomplishments of nearly 200 graduates across four separate distributed education programs exploring the practical applications of digital fabrication, the future of textile technologies, the promotion of access and inclusion across the Fab Lab Network, and implementation of the Fab City Full Stack in a 40-year countdown to urban self-sufficiency. Their final projects were a delightful combination of ingenuity, quirkiness, and originality—while still very much concerned with leveraging technology to improve the world in which we all live.
Moving from the stage to the runway, we all got a chance to see firsthand the kind of fantastic creations that Fabricademy graduates are capable of bringing to life. The Beyond Fashion Runway, held at San Roque was, quite simply, one of the most stunning displays of creative personal fabrication that we’ve ever beheld. Blending biotechnology, digital craftsmanship, regenerative methodologies, and a range of experimental techniques, 30+ designers showcased an eco-futuristic line of handcrafted garments that were a feast for the eyes and a call to action for everyone in attendance to challenge the traditional norms of the fashion industry.
San Roque also played host to our closing ceremony at the end of the week, which took the form of a lively fiesta Mexicana, where we gathered as a group to eat, drink, sing, dance, and celebrate the success of a profoundly impactful event. But before the conference could be brought to its proper conclusion, we had a bit of FABx housekeeping to do. Taking the stage for the final time, our gracious hosts for FAB24 Mexico passed the torch to the Czech Republic team, who will be hosting FAB25 in Brno and Prague next July. The Fab Foundation team also shared the exciting news that FAB26 will take place in our hometown, Boston, MA. And our friends in Finland announced that they won the pitch to host FAB27 at Fab Lab Oulu—congrats!
As the stage cleared, most headed to the airport to begin a journey of many miles back home. But, with some very important business left unfinished, others lingered, moving on from Puebla to Mérida to attend the Fab City Summit Yucatán—August 11-14. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Fab City Global Initiative, this four-day event served as a necessary moment for reflection on the progress achieved thus far and an opportunity to set the tone and vision for the work that lies ahead to satisfy the ambitious goals of the Fab City Pledge by 2054.
And with that, the curtain closed on FAB24 Mexico. For several weeks, we collaborated on projects that ranged from the silly to the sacred, exchanged deep knowledge and lighthearted cultural humor, asked hard questions, and offered thoughtful feedback. Together, we learned so much, and we inspired one another to continue pursuing knowledge in every form. All of us at the Fab Foundation want to express our most heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed to the success of this incredible gathering—the representatives of local, regional, and state government in Mexico who saw the value in our mission and pledged their support; the volunteers and host organizations in Puebla and throughout the country who worked tirelessly alongside us every step of the way; the performers who entertained with their arts and educated us on Mexican culture; the speakers, presenters, ambassadors, and workshop facilitators who guided our learning journeys; the sponsors, partners, and collaborators who made the event logistically possible; and, of course, the hundreds of enthusiastic attendees, Fabbers who joined us from every corner of the globe to make this a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you all so very much!
For more FAB24 action, be sure to catch the MoonMakers Podcast, featuring in-depth interviews with some of the most influential figures in the Fab Lab Network.