Makey Makey is based on research undertaken by Silver and Rosenbaum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group while they were PhD students at MIT’s Media Lab. The project—billed as “a 21st century invention kit for everyone”—was originally supported through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter. The accompanying video offers a window into the myriad possible applications of this design toolbox of microcontroller, alligator clips, USB cables, and connector wires. Based in part on Arduino technology—also featured in this exhibition—the Makey Makey allows designers of all backgrounds and levels of expertise to connect the Internet to objects that conduct electricity. Bananas can function as piano keys, paint as a game console, or a cat as a camera auto-shutter.
Gallery label from This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good, February 14, 2015–January 31, 2016.