NSCAD design students are repurposing the once-ubiquitous Walkman into miniature race cars. On Friday, they’ll send them down the track to see which is the fastest—and the coolest.
The checkered flag will be waved on Friday, Feb. 1 at 1:30 p.m. at NSCAD’s Institute for Applied Creativity (next door to NSCAD’s Port Campus) where a 15-metre indoor track will be set up. Hot dogs will be served and all are welcome.
“The idea is to take this old technology based on spinning gears and repurpose it,” explains Professor Glen Hougan, who teaches the second-year Design Studio class. The first Walkman car races took place in Munich, Germany 10 years ago.
But there is an ulterior motive. Besides showing off their tape-powered need-for-speed vehicles, the 18 design students want to talk about what it is they’re learning at NSCAD.
“So many people say, ‘What is it you do?’” says Megan Clenchy, from Calgary, who transferred from the commerce program at Dalhousie to NSCAD’s Design program. “We learn about typography, graphics, layout and product design, but design is so much more. It’s about communicating visually and problem solving and we want to tell people about that.”
“Our work is interdisciplinary and so much of it is in teams. There’s a niche for the things we do and we want to carve it out for ourselves,” adds Carly Jenkins, a student from Elora, Ont.