I learnt how to make fire using the ancient technique of spinning a stick on a board. It was a slow process that got started when reflecting on what I knew about how things are made.

Pushing buttons and using all sorts of wireless devices on a daily basis, I have no idea where to get started to make a wire or a plastic knob, let alone a signal-carrying microwave or a saw.

After some research I settled on trying to master the mother of all technologies: fire making using the bow-drill technique. I performed fire-making live for approximately 20 times over 3 years before getting a flame in the Gessnerallee Zürich, 2006.

 
Filmed in The Junction, Cambridge, 2006