Gambiologia, the Brazilian art and science of kludging

Gambiologia 

"Gambiarra is the Brazilian practice of makeshifts, the art of resorting to quirky and smart improvisation in order to repair what doesn't work or to create what you need with what you have at your disposal. Gambiologia is the 'science' that studies this form of creative improvisation and celebrates it by combining it with electronic-digital techniques... There is no exact translation for 'gambiarra' so we initially used kludge which means (from Wikipedia): 'a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together'. In the US they'd call it makeshift. Gambiologia is the study of 'gambiarra' in a technological context."

I've included the collectives website along with a website that shows examples of basic kludging being done all over the world. It gives a basis for understanding the "makeshift" quality that this collective is interested in. 
www.gambiologia.net
(North American way: thereifixedit.failblog.org )

Audio Cable fixed with candy wrapper

Car Mirror

Using a bottle for a Shower

Gambiologia is also a group of artists that create works in exhibits based on kludging. They range from very simple to extremely complex creations.
Some of the work includes:

Paulo Nenflídio, Polvo, 2010

Polvo (Octopus) from Paulo Nenflidio is a sound machine made by plastic conduits. These are originally used to hold electric cables but Paulo used them to hold compressed air. As the visitor "plays" a keyboard made out of door ring bells, the conduits blow, generating different sounds. The seven bells form a complete tone set. This bizarre octopus-instrument still have an 8th note generated by an water spray on its top.

Guto Lacaz, Furadeiras.

 Furadeiras (Drills) is one of the simplest exhibited artworks but surely one of the smartest. It's by Guto Lacaz, an experienced artist from Sao Paulo. He proposed an unusual meeting between "different generation" drills - one being analogue and the other electrical. It's an ironic interpretation between planned obsolescence and how technology evolves, sometimes just rotating around itself in an infinite loop. Or how the old (low-tech) and the new (high-tech) can live collaboratively.

Coletivo Gambiologia (Fred Paulino, Ganso and Lucas Mafra), Gambiociclo, 2010

I always wish to have a multimedia vehicle that could project video and digital graffiti in public space. It's terrific how that can be a straight path to a democratic dialogue between people and the city itself. But our MBU should be gambiological - reflecting the logics and aesthetics of 'gambiarra' with this strong Brazilian accent. So we built it inspired by trolleys of salesmen who ride here mostly selling products or doing political advertisement. The idea was to mix performance, happening, electronic art, graffiti and 'gambiarras'.

"Gambiologia was initially the name our three guys' collective but the word is now being used here to identify a new way of think about technology, hacking and (Brazilian) pop culture. Like a science or a movement... It somehow captured the feeling of many creators... As a colonial country (Brazil) we initially didn't have enough resources for solving everyday problems so we had to invent simple and cheap solutions... Gambiologia tries to go beyond this, bring it into the art scene with an aesthetical and political discussion about technology."

This idea is new media literacy because it is breaking apart, recycling, remixing and re-purposing technology to create something new or make a fix it that happens spontaneously. You learn about the technology by taking it apart and making new additions. I think this is really interesting and am very drawn to how much this idea includes. The fact that it started as something that everyone can do and probably has done, by making small adjustments with random materials to create a solution to a problem, to using these ideas to create art by mixing technology for what the actual purpose is and what the artist wants to create.