solar media collective website | The Sun Is in Your Hand(held) | TAG blog post | solar game boy mod tutorial
As part of the Solar Media Collective, Alex Custodio and I organised a series of workshops and a game jam focused on solar Game Boy modding and homebrew game design using GB Studio.
Our research proposes that designing games for a recognizable and nostalgic platform can be a potent entry point into thinking about playful sustainable energy interventions. As a battery-powered device that requires direct light, the Game Boy has always possessed a symbiotic (and often contentious) relationship to the sun and to energy concerns more broadly. As a widely adopted and modified household electronic, it’s uniquely suited to allow us to contemplate the relationship between political economies, DIY cultural practices, and environmental sustainability.
Speculative modding practices are hopeful, yet, also temper our expectations and remind us that there is no panacea for the current woes of media manufacturing, production, and distribution. Each foray into commercial hardware is equal parts delight and frustration, exposing the transformative potentials and harsh limitations embedded within technology. Our practice is both pragmatic and idealistic, reconciling solarpunk imaginaries in the face of technological ambivalence.
The workshops and jams were also a great opportunity to mobilise the Residual Media Depot‘s research collection, which is comprised of early home videogame consoles. Tinkering and modification are central tenets of the Depot, and events such as these allow participants to engage with its collections in creative new ways.