The term circuit bending refers to the act of modifying the circuitry of battery-powered children's toys to create strange, new, and unintended sounds for creative purposes. This re-appropriation of objects of a digital childhood is quickly growing in popularity as it offers an affordable, culturally referenced path into the creation of electronic music. Instead of merely watching a person's face glowing in the screen of a laptop, the audience can watch performers wrangle squelches, bleeps, groans, and blips out of everyday childhood toys. This is fun to watch, and fun to do.
Furthermore, circuit bending is the direct result of experimentation and ÒplayÓ. Very little technical know-how is required to get started, and this invites a wider audience who may be curious about electronic music, but feel intimidated by the steep learning curve or passivity of the traditional performance setup.
Each year, The Tank invites benders from across the country and around the globe to perform concerts with their circuit bent instruments, to teach workshops to adults and children alike, and to generally descend on our fair city for a week of sharing and showing off their skills. This year the festival is being expanded to include not only New York, but Los Angeles and Minneapolis as well.
If you have the least bit of curiosity about electronics or electronic music, or if you've ever just really wanted to rip your toys apart, this festival is for you. Each day we will have open studios with expert benders on hand to help you get started. There will be installation artists building circuit-bent artwork throughout the spaces in each city. There will be a full schedule of in-depth workshops and nightly concerts of some of the best circuit benders in the world. It is genuinely fun for the whole family. You will have a blast.
The installation artists will come to their respective spaces with a plan and their materials, but will create their entire bent artistic works live over the course of the week. The artists will work during festival hours only, providing the public a complete look at their artistic process. Each artist will be happy to take time to discuss their work and in some cases have you get involved with their projects.
In addition to the installations, the festival will also have public work/play areas where audience members can try their hand at bending toys provided (or bring your own!). Expert benders, including but not limited to our installations artists, will be on-hand throughout the week to help you get started in this amazingly easy and fun process. All workshops are free and open to the public.
Each night of the festival there will be a number of international acts performing music that involves circuit bent instruments, custom-made electronics and/or battery-powered electronic devices. The music will range from electronics-based indie-pop acts to abstract, experimental soundscapes.