Many, many designers have experienced creative breakthrough by taking something apart and putting it back together. Over this past weekend, thinkers, makers, hackers, know-it-alls and novices around the world threw down on The Deconstruction. The premise is simple, but the outcome is not: make... something. Strictly open-ended, The Deconstruction is somehow both a creation competition and a collaboration-focused conference while having no set theme or topic. This vague but fun event kicked off on Friday, as teams livestreamed and documented their projects through the weekend.

Projects can be physical, digital, mechanical, social, multimedia... Regardless of the mode, the only criteria is to "create something that did not exist 48 hours before" and to highlight interesting problem-solving. Fun interviews and updates will be happening at their HQ "inside the internet", and prizes will be given for teams' summary videos, problem-solving, and outstanding student contributions.

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Last year there was snail animation, chair-making, stuff-breaking, and whatever prompted the golden quote, "We're taking apart a bicycle and building the deadliest thing we can come up with." It's part design charrette, part absurd art party, part creative thinking incentivizer. Check out the fruits of this year's labor (pictured above and below) on their website.