It was mid-July, it was the morning of my birthday, and we were sitting in an airport cafeteria with my family, waiting for the gates to be opened. Killing time and struggling to be awake, I opened the homepage where new college admissions were announced in Norway. I was one day early, but I thought – why not? – and so I saw on the screen that I got into the Art and Dissemination program at The Oslo Metropolitan University. The next days this was all I could think about. I had many photo projects going on with my home-made cameras, I took interesting, weird and some traditional photos during our trip, but still, I was so happy I would just sit and think about this new course of life - while sitting by the warm sea.
The week before university started in mid-August, we took a tour around campus with my Mom. I have lived here for a couple years now, and have been hanging around Pilestredet Park occasionally, but was still a bit afraid of getting lost on Campus on the first day of school. And I was right. We did get lost and instead of Pilestredet Park 35, we ended up Pilestredet 35. Same faculty, different department.
Pilestredet 35 has many smooth corners, one of which is visible from the turning of the tram tracks. The building also has a bent full-view window on the first floor, and this is where Makerspace is nestled. “I thought this must be something interesting for you” my Mom pointed out. And she was right. It captured my attention immediately. From the corner, one can mostly see the wood workshop, but a bit further in . . . there were 3D printers, sewing machines, an interlock machine, and many other things. These kinds of public places do not exist where I come from. For me, it looked like Santa’s Christmas workshop coming to life from a photo-realistically illustrated fairy tale book. I couldn’t wait to start the semester and go down there.
The Art Competition and the New Majorstua 3120 OsloMet
There was one additional aspect to the attractiveness of this place: it also had a laser cutter which I could use to further develop my pinhole camera designs. Previously, I used the laser cutter at AHO, with the help of a friend who worked there, but here I was and the possibilities at Makerspace seemed endless. It was in September, I read about a competition connected to an art project presented by Makerspace and the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design at OsloMet. They needed contestants to apply with art projects that could be created at Makerspace and exhibited as examples on the 7th floor of Pilestredet 35. I applied with my Majorstua Camera Designs and shortly after, I was set off to work further with them! How exciting, really!
So, during the fall semester of 2019, I was working with further developing my Majorstua Camera Designs, introducing acrylic into the mixture. Majorstua 3120 OsloMet was created for single sheets of 120 films or paper negatives of the same size. A prototype of the Majorstua 3120 OsloMet is now put on display at the 7th floor of Pilestredet 35.
It worth mentioning how exciting Makerspace has been and it is still! It is a meeting place for creative souls and technological brains. You meet people with amazing projects and ideas, and it is amazing to connect with them. It makes you think that everything is possible! And . . . it is :)
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