Cyberdecks: A Creative Computing Call to Action

In a new trend sweeping the internet, people are putting aside their laptops and building cyberdecks, mini personal computers built within creatively repurposed hardware.

From purses to polly pocket toys to briefcases and anything else you can imagine, this trend isn’t a call to simply disconnect. Spearheaded by women technologists online, it’s a creative call to action to take back control of how, when, and why we use technology.

These mini-computers act as a response to our devices rather than full replacement, and weave our interests with technology we can use on our own terms. 

Cyberdeck creator Andrew Tattersall proposes a theory for the trend’s rapid resonance: “We were promised a future of colorful, creative tech showing us that anything was possible. Instead, we got ‘sealed shut, black boxes.’”

It makes sense – while technology is often an extension of our personal expression, free time, and how we connect with the world around us, our interactions are fundamentally shaped by the software and hardware on the market. Our devices don’t reflect us more than they reflect the Business Consumer Insights of whichever year we needed a new laptop. 

It’s a decentralized movement putting creative agency back into individuals’ hands, much like the Render Network’s work in SUBMERGE: Beyond the Render, where artists were given the power to create at the speed of their imagination, something typically reserved for large studios and companies. 

At ARTECHOUSE, our mission is to platform and inspire the future generations of creative technologists and artists. If you’ve been inspired by the cyberdeck trend, here are a few ways we invite you to dive deeper: