ARTTUESDAYS - CIRCUIT BENDING!

(the guts of a Texas Instruments' 'Speak n Spell' = the ur device most folks use to get started)

several years ago, i stumbled into an art space in NYC called The Tank. it was filled with wonders: mad stoner scientists rewiring electronic toys to make fantastic gleeps and gloops their straight engineer/inventors never dreamed could come from these 'educational' toys, other artists (and the were most definitely artists) played synthpopdancesymphonicsoundtrack music on doctored Game Boys ("chiptunes"), and one guy had filled a stairwell with mutated Furbees that spastically lurched & squawked if you didn't tread...very...very...carefully.

if you are ANYWHERE near the NYC area, i urge you to go and see a truly amazing artelectro phenomenon.

Basic circuit-bending info from Reed Ghazala = the Godfather of this stuff:

http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/

http://www.oddmusic.com/illogic/

from The Tank's info-email:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The time has come. After 6 months of preparations, the Bent Festival is upon us once again.

Circuit-bending is the creative short-circuiting of low voltage, battery-powered electronic audio devices such as guitar effects, children's toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators.

The Bent Festival is a week of concerts, art installations, and workshops celebrating this most unusual art form. The first and only festival in the country where one can see a musical instrument built from a singing teddy bear, this year's event will be our most ambitious to date. In addition to nightly concerts and huge beautiful art installations, novices and experienced benders of all ages can participate in workshops led by the best in the business during the day.

One note, workshops with a materials fee are filling up fast, so pre-register on the site to ensure a spot. For the open workshops, feel free to bring your own toys or use ours! All tools will be provided.

Now the blurb:

BENT2006 Circuit Bending Festival
April 18 - 23, 15 Nassau Street NY,NY
http://www.bentfestival.org - buy tix and see all info!
http://www.thetanknyc.org

Tues 4/18 - 7pm - FREE - Concert with: Luke Dubois with Matthew Ostrowski, Tristan Perich/Loud Objects

Wed 4/19 - 3-6pm - FREE - Open Workshop
And 6-8pm - FREE - Intro to Circuit Bending Workshop
And 8-10pm - $7 - Concert with: Daniel Cashin, Shotaro Nakano, Bubblyfish, Pixelform, Gunung Sari

Thurs 4/20 - 3-6pm - FREE - Open Workshop
And 4-8pm - $5 - Building Custom Circuits for Bent Instruments
And 6-8pm - $15 - Building a Square Wave Tone Generator
And 8-10pm - $7 - Concert with: Josh Tobin, Nies-DeVega-Tammen, kingcapitolpunishment, MHCrispo, Receptors

Fri 4/21 - 3-6pm - FREE - After-School Circuit Bending
And 6-8pm - FREE - Virtual Circuit Bending with Max/MSP and Jitter
And 6-8pm - $15 - Voice Changing Megaphone Bending Wokshop
And 8pm-late - $10 - Concert with: The Circuit Bending Orchestra, The Bemus Point, Mystery Circuits, George Lazenbleep, Lorin Edwin Parker, Andrew Bucksbarg with Michele Darling and Terry Golob, Peter Blasser, The Circuit-Bent Project, Travis McCoy Fuller

Sat 4/22 - 12pm-2pm - FREE - A Day at the Circuits Intro Workshop
And 1-4pm - $50 - Building the One-Bit Groove Box
And 1-3pm - $50 (and BYO SK-1) Installing the RCA Patchbay Mod to a Casio SK
And 4-6pm - FREE - Hardware Hacking Workshop with Nic Collins
And 6-8pm - FREE - Hardware Hacking Book Release Party with Nic Collins
And 8pm-late - $10 - Concert with: The Tour Company, Ian Helliwell, Vic Rawlings, Mystery Palace, Peter Edwards, Maikko, Beatrix*Jar, Burnkit2600

Sun 4/23 - 1-3pm - $60 - How to Make a Robot Sing from the Heart Workshop
And 3-5pm - $5 - Concert with: Dafna Naphtali, Alex Waterman and Benton-C Bainbridge, John Morton

Please, won't you join us? These people are descending on NYC for a week with the most insane toys they have spent the year building, and you really owe it to yourself to check them out.

BENT2006 is presented at 15 Nassau, a venue of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Space donated by Silverstein Properties.

Sincerely,

The Tank

In addition to the workshops and concerts at this year's circuit bending festival, we would like to announce the following art installations and interactive experiences available for you to enjoy.

First, the robot monkey battles are back! This year will include an arena and real live computer sound effects. See the monkeys here: http://robotmonkey.net

Second, we have more artists installing circuit bent work in the space this year than any year previous. Come see some of them install their art over the course of the week...the work will be on display during all public events during the festival.

April 18 - 23 | 15 Nassau Street, NY, NY
Circuit Bent Art Installations from:
Caitlin Berrigan
Patrick Bobilin
Sarah Bogner & Aylin Langreuter
Andrew Bucksbarg
Arcangel Constantini
Petko Dourmana
Peter Edwards
Maggie Ens & Marc Sloan
Jacqueline Gordon
Chiara Passa & Mokamed
Phillip Stearns
WATFIV aka Christopher Sorg

Finally, the festival store will be selling Reed Ghazala's book "Circuit-Bending : Build Your Own Alien Instruments", Nic Collins' book "Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking", festival T-Shirts and posters, and merchandise from many of the festival participants.

http://www.bentfestival.org

where these:








become these!


























NP: last year's sampler CD

PEEVE DE JOUR: i have to be in Ohio this week. [editor's note: damn! did i get flack for that! i was talking about missing most of this Festival, not dissing Ohio. sheesh!]

N.B.A.T.W.P.: again...this is THE party/event to attend.