TechCrunch is hosting its annual Disrupt Hackathon this weekend and is looking for hardware hackers to join the event.

Do you have hardware project that’s been simmering on the back burner because you can’t get access to a 3D printer? Come on down to the Disrupt Hackathon and use one of the MakerBots and Raspberry Pis we’ll have on site for anyone to use. Build toys, robots, Arduino cases, or whatever you want and enter the Disrupt Hackathon as an inaugural hardware hacker. We dare you.

The best hardware hack as chosen by the judges wins a brand new Replicator courtesy of MakerBot – a $2,000 value.

The event has been hosted in NY and San Francisco. Join them on September 8 in San Francisco for your chance to build some 3D printing hacks.

Via TechCrunch.

TechCrunch Disrupt photo by Scott Beale used under Creative Commons license.

Last week the MakerBot team joined forces with artists to democratize famous works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These 3D designs are now on Thingiverse and ready to be 3D printed. For example, the marble lion statue pictured above dates from 400 B.C. and is now available in digital form on Thingiverse.

As art is being democraticized, meaning users can download and print their own editions of these classical pieces, we are already seeing derivative digital works of art. In the example below, Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Bather was placed in a bath tub and uploaded to Thingiverse.

While this is in early days, it is incredible to now have the raw works of art at our digital fingertips for new creation.

Via MakerBot blog.