HOME MADE & Archipelago Tour of Summercamps 2025

We are happy to announce a special collaboration for this year to combine our beloved HOME MADE summercamp with our friends from Bretagne, who have been hosting the Artlabo Retreat “a week of creating in and with nature” on Île de Batz, off the Roscoff coast (Bretagne, FR) for the last years.

20 years anniversary of HOME MADE

As 2025 also marks the 20 years anniversary of HOME MADE, this is a great opportunity to bring together more new and old friends to join our summer activities, share and celebrate with us the do-it-yourself (DIY) & do-it-with-others (DIWO) culture in France and Switzerland.

Many more detailed information is updated on the wiki

Home Made is a summer camp centered on open-ended research, sharing ideas and skills, and fostering a sense of community in a relaxed, collaborative environment. Organized by the Swiss Mechatronic Art Society, the event emphasizes DIWO (Do It With Others), especially in experimental electronics projects used in sound, light, kinetic art, and music. However, the camp celebrates a diverse array of practices, including Bio-art, Ceramics, Mushroom and wild herb foraging, Hiking, Crystal growing, Hobby horse dressage, Microscopy, Textile art, Fermentation, Metal and woodwork, Model airplane construction and flying, Videography, Comic art, and writing.

The philosophy of the camp is that everyone has something valuable to share and something new to learn, regardless of their background. It’s a space for curiosity, creativity, and connecting with others who love making things. This year’s edition is extra special, as it is the 20th Anniversary of Home Made! We have also secured a larger house than usual (so feel free to share with friends who would be interested to join!), which is also situated on the bodensee – so lots of swimming and water geeking opportunities. Visit and edit our wiki for continous updates on the programme, participants, projects and dreams.

There will also be the collaboration with our friends from Bretagne, who will be hosting the Artlabo Retreat, “a week of creating in and with nature”.

Preview of Programme

June 29 – July 14: ArtLabo Retreat 2025 – Bretagne, France

This time the ArtLabo Retreat has 2 Chapters, a first week on the Île de Batz, co-organized with design gallery & makerspace La Gare Ultra, with more of a marine focus, sound art, biomaterials and collaboration with a local art school, and a second week inland at Château de Kerminy in Rosporden, co-organized with the art farm Kerminy.org, with a focus on soil, sound and food sovereignty, while reflecting and documentating the experiences.

More info about ArtLabo Retreat 2025 will be released on the Roscosmoe website.

The ArtLabo Retreat is a bi-annual week-long international gathering. It takes place at the Island of Batz, off the Roscoff coast (Bretagne, FR). Its focus is on sharing research-creation practices in the field of marine biology, biomaterials, sustainable food, upcycling & circular economy, open source technology, video & sound arts and media publication.

The first week at Île de Batz is partly dedicated to mentoring students, young graduates, or people in need of acquiring new skills, according to an inclusive approach. Several groups of 3-5 people are organized, and the work of a mentor (or collective) is remunerated for each of these groups.

• Group 1: soil sensing and sound art, streaming radio art HAM, various DIY soil & music geeking, soil chromatographies
• Group 2: biomaterials workshops, seaweed-based clothing research
• Group 3: wild herbs and seaweed, foraging and cooking, culinary design
• Group 4: recycling and reuse of island waste, pop-up fablab and arts and crafts
• Group 5: marine bio-theoretical research, filming, foreshore exploration and laboratory visits
• Group 6: written and photo documentation, riso printing, interviews, video trailers, podcasts

The second week is more open to personal projects, but invites a theme. This year, the focus is on the link between the farm and the watersheds of the Aven and Belon rivers, and the bioacoustics of soils and sound ecology (waterways, aquatic insects, etc.). Contributing, even modestly, to the long-term art farm project in Kerminy (participating in farm life, cooking and cleaning, various DIY tasks, open hardware for agricultural purposes, etc.) is also encouraged.

<- Click here for more information on registration and directions

Price: 40 euros per day (bed and 3 meals)

Registration at: lab@makery.info

How to get there:

Île de Batz (week 1 – June 29 until July 6) We recommend that you come by train, although it is possible to fly to Brest. From Paris, take the TGV train from Montparnasse station to Morlaix. In Morlaix you can take a bus to Roscoff, then the boat to the island. But if you register, we will include you in a shared transportation schedule, with possible carpooling and pick-up at Morlaix station, at the port of Roscoff, and assist for the boat schedule as well. If you are driving, let us know, maybe you can pick up other people! It is recommended! If you are loaded down when you arrive on the island, you will need to take a local taxi. We will organize this for you. If you have very bulky or heavy equipment, let us know in advance, we have to ship it by cargo boat and reserve a space in advance.

Rosporden (week 2 – July 6 until July 14) If you are only coming for week 2, you will need to take the TGV to Rosporden. We will come and pick you up there, as the farm is in the countryside. For those who have participated in Batz, we will organize vehicles between Roscoff and Kerminy (1h30). In the same way, we will organize the pooling of transportation efforts. Feel free to write to lab@makery.info if you have any questions.

Documentations of earlier ArtLabo Retreats

Homemade 2025

1 – 10 August: HOME MADE 2025 – Wartburg, Salenstein (TG), Switzerland

For the first time with HOME MADE 2025 we go to the lake! We found a nice location on the banks of Untersee, near Salenstein (TG), and already have reserved the Wartburg for us to spend a week of geeking and celebrating, soldering and swimming.

More info about HOME MADE 2025 will be constantly updated on this wiki page: https://wiki.sgmk-ssam.ch/wiki/HOME_MADE_2025

The Homemade summercamp is a week that is open for beginners as well as experts and everyone in between interested in exploring ideas or creating objects for sound, light or movement. The participants can bring their individual projects or work in groups and get inspired by art related topics. During this self-organized research week we will do workshops and talks, run experiments, cook & eat together, there will also be time for party and relaxing.

Activities and Highlights:

Communal KitchenLab, Spontaneous AV Jams, Open Program including workshops, talks, performances, and nature excursions. Final Concerts and Party: A celebratory end to the week.

Tools and Infrastructure provided by SGMK:

• Basic wood and metalworking tools (drills, screwdrivers, bandsaw, etc.)
• Electronics tools (soldering irons, reflow oven, circuit board etching station, binoculars) and basic materials (generic components, solder….)
• 3D printers, laser engraver
• Sound system, speakers
• …

If you have some cool equipment you want to bring, or wish there was some infrastructure for the project you want to work on, feel free to share your ideas and needs on the camp’s wiki.

Documentations of earlier HOME MADE Summercamps

How to Participate

Mail to homemade@sgmk-ssam.ch

Cost for participation (full 9 days):
SGMK Members: CHF 295.-
non SGMK Members: CHF 345.-
If you only come for a few days: daily fee 50.- / night

The fee includes food, accommodation and basic materials. Please get into contact with us, if you need to find support for your travels, invitations letters for grants, or discuss other means to help you to be able to participate!

The camp is family-friendly and welcoming for children. Non-human companions are also warmly welcomed. 🐕🦜🐌

More Networks of Summercamps

Furthermore we are also proud to have joined the larger Feral Labs Network and hopefully can share and learn more from each other.

“The Feral Labs Network is a network of temporary dislocated hubs for research in art, technology and communities. It’s members share a common interest in art-science research and contemporary do-it-yourself (DIY) & do-it-with-others (DIWO) communities.“

See more about all those friends on the website: https://ferallabs.net/
And check their nice publications available on their website.

Articles and reflections on earlier camps

Feral Circuits: Rewilding electro-cultures at HomeMade 2024, Published 12 October 2024 by Miranda Moss, Makery

Project support and partners

Through the project “Archipelago: Art and Science Investigations in Times of Unstable Knowledge”, which received support from Pro Helvetia Synergies Programme, we are now preparing for more intense research activities and support of participation of international guests to combine our two summercamps. This joint programme is a collaboration of SGMK – Swiss Mechatronic Art Society and our main partner the Roscosmoe platform by Art2M / Makery, aswell various other local and international partners.