For three days in February, the Exploratorium showcases the innovations and outlaw aesthetics of custom computer culture. An outgrowth of the hacker community, personal computer modding was born from the need for speed and personal style. Look under the hood of this creative subculture and explore the hacking geekery that ignited a billion-dollar design industry. Rods & Mods features a showroom of souped-up PCs, restored classics, and experimental computers, as well as workshops, and presentations. Modders will be on hand throughout the event to discuss their work.

Like the 50s and 60s era Kustom Kulture to emerge from the artwork and car designs of Ed Roth, Von Dutch, the Barris brothers, and others, computer modding transforms an impersonal technology into a means of cultural expression. Just as black sedans gave rise to hot rods and lowriders, so the boxy, beige PC inspired overclocking (adjusting components to run at a faster, higher rate), cooling systems, and radically modified cases. Motherboards have been built into virtually any object imaginable—from robots to motorcycles to bottles of Scotch.

In his book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, Tom Wolfe describes a world of custom carmakers creating an art form that had nothing to do with an artistic elite. Once Kustom Kulture was firmly established, automotive technology began to respond: It’s no accident that cars from the late 60s resembled the Kustom mods of the early 60s. Similarly, 20 years of computer modded artistic and mechanical innovations have influenced today’s computer designs: LEDs, glowing power supplies, liquid cooling systems, and many other, once-unique ideas are now available on store shelves.

Rods & Mods invites you to discover the desktop hot rods and extreme designs of this thriving cultural phenomenon:

Case Mods: Today’s computer cases need no longer be drab. These computers have morphed into... just about anything! They reflect personal creativities and passions, from ninjas to Star Wars characters to Egyptian funerary objects. Old-school computers, mechanical typewriters, and Nintendo cases hide modern operating systems; beautifully handcrafted art deco furniture and steampunk inventions reveal fully-functioning computers.

High Performance: Drag racers used nitrous oxide and superchargers to fly down the track; modding speed freaks overclock and liquid cool multiple processors while adding enough RAM to simultaneously run graphics-heavy games and computations in fluid dynamics with the latest HD movie downloading in the background. These PCs are built for speed.

Classics: Polish up the whitewalls and make sure the valve cover lettering looks like it’s never seen the heat of a single motor revolution. Computer enthusiasts have their own answers to the ‘57 Chevys and ’64 Impalas of the world: TRS 80s, Commodore 64s, Osbornes, and Apple Lisas. Buff the capacitors and shine the chips—and park these vintage beauties in the Classics section!

Experimental/Extreme Computers: Explore computers designed to go where humans fear to tread: underwater, beneath the ice, inside volcanos, and into the sky aboard airplanes and satellites.

Fringe Computers: These computers are also clothing, medical devices, and works of art.