Hands Handmade
The Groote Museum is divided into zones. Discover here what there is to see and experience in the zone about hands.
Most organisms do not need hands. Your hands and those of some other animals have evolved to grasp things. But when your ancestors started to walk upright, they became really handy. Making and breaking. Creating and destroying. What started with simple tools, chopping, cutting and making fire, has evolved into genetic engineering and made-to-order-babies. Manufacturability. Where does it end?
Discover this zone
Tools
The museum has a wide range of tools on display. But do we really need such complex tools like a chainsaw?
Baby on demand
When do we go too far in shaping the world to our liking? Should we want to design our own baby?
It’s just what you need them for
Human hands, bat wings and a dolphin fin like this one, share the same blueprint. But what makes our hands special is that the thumb can touch our other fingers. This allows us to grasp things and use tools. We are now outpacing evolution with robotic hands. What’s next? Human hands, made from living cells, which provide two thumbs. Or two middle fingers. Just whatever is convenient.
Toaster project
How to build a toaster from scratch. Start mining raw materials, such as iron and petroleum. Make everything, absolutely everything, yourself- from the smallest screw to the plastic casing. Impossible? Designer Thomas Thwaites took a shot and got pretty far. Watch the video in the museum and discover the bizarre journey Twaites took on to collect all the materials. Do you actually know what components are in your products?
