Antonin Odin

My residency project is a continuation of ComputerKIT, a design-driven research initiative I launched in 2021 that explores the production of modular computers using refurbished electronic components. The aim is to offer a desirable, circular, and adaptable alternative to current hardware industry standards—while questioning our technological dependencies, industrial sovereignty, and the potential of upcycled design.

This residency will allow me to immerse myself in a dense technological ecosystem such as New York’s, identify key players in the refurbishment sector, document local practices, and test my hypotheses in a different cultural and industrial context. I aim to understand the recovery chains for electronic components (particularly those stemming from corporate hardware renewals), investigate existing upcycling initiatives, and explore the habits, needs, and imaginaries of American creators and consumers.

The work will unfold in three main stages:

– a mapping of the e-waste and refurbishment ecosystem in New York City;

– an immersion phase at Industry City, New Lab, and the Lower East Side Ecology Center through interviews, site visits, and exchanges with designers, engineers, startups, and active organizations;

– an exploratory phase, formulating usage scenarios and product concepts (technical objects, displays, hybrid furniture…), and if possible, developing exploratory prototypes tailored to the U.S. market.

This research will also provide an opportunity to take a step back from the current directions of ComputerKIT and expand the scope of refurbished design to new categories of objects.

New York is an ideal setting to explore the challenges of computer refurbishment. A technological, cultural, and industrial hub, the city brings together cutting-edge innovation, a dynamic maker culture, and growing attention to sustainability and circular economy practices. The relationship to hardware here is unique—at the crossroads of design, performance, and creative uses.

My interest lies in understanding the life cycle of electronic components in this context: how are components from large corporate IT infrastructures collected, processed, resold, or repurposed? Which companies or startups are tapping into these flows to design new products? And how do users value the second life of a computer, a screen, or a graphics card?

I hope to meet designers, engineers, researchers, and entrepreneurs involved in e-waste, refurbishing, and circular design, as well as creative users—artists, scenographers, and technologists—to better grasp the imaginaries surrounding refurbished hardware.

My research will focus on locations such as Industry City—a vibrant creative ecosystem—, the New Lab at Brooklyn Navy Yard, an incubator dedicated to hardware innovation, and the Lower East Side Ecology Center, a key player in recycling and reuse in New York. These spaces will allow me to confront my hypotheses with real-world practices, build transatlantic connections, and ground my work in a technical, cultural, and forward-looking approach.