For all those with inquisitive minds, I’ll be hosting a circuit bending workshop as part of the British Science Festival on 10th September
A three-hour workshop in which you’ll learn how to make unusual noises by creatively modifying toys and other devices.
Circuit bending is the creative art of making experimental modifications to toys and other small devices, making them perform in unexpected ways, making new sounds and discovering new functions. Explore the basics of circuit bending, including soldering, and try it out on your own battery powered toys or devices.
I had the pleasure of meeting up with Tony Hill recently, where I acquired a copy of his new glitch zine, Junk DNA of the Digital Mind. He was kind enough to divulge that he used some of the devices by Video Tech Designs to create content. Being relatively cheap (due to their limited functions) I immediately got onto ebay to find my own to bend, which I did at the Many & Varied Skills Share Jamboree!
TOYBOX at TROVE opened on Friday 15th June. The opening was a great success! Thanks to everyone who braved the rained and came to the opening.
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Image by Charlie Levine[/caption]
The exhibition featured modified and hacked toys and similar-themed films and performances. Here’s the toys:
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Horsing Around by James Gill[/caption]
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Untitled by Katy Morrison[/caption] [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“500”]
Panther by David Lee[/caption] [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“375”]
Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy by Claire Davies[/caption] [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“500”]
Untitled by Sam Underwood[/caption] [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“375”]
Mid Life Crisis by Duncan McKellar[/caption]
In June 2012 I’ll be co-curating an exhibition about toys at/with TROVE and Daniel Salisbury. More info, including how to get involved, is below:
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TROVE is an independent art space in Birmingham, UK, which run a monthly changing programme of contemporary art exhibitions/events.
In June 2012 TROVE are hosting an exhibition about toys. This project leads on from the discovery that the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, where TROVE is based, used to produce more ‘toys’ than jewellery, guns or pens; all things it is now more famously known for producing. When researching what toys were produced in this area of Birmingham it was discovered that the term ‘toys’ was used to describe items such as buttons, cuff-links and belt buckles.
On Sunday 27th November I did a one-day micro-residency at Fargo Hack Play Space in Coventry. I was asked to bring unfinished projects, completed projects or something completely new that I wanted to start on. I have a fair bit of Pure Data and Processing code and ideas that need(ed) a lot of attention but I had serious doubts of whether they could be completed in six hours.
To say I had absolutely no idea what I was going to achieve in one day would be quite an understatement.
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Stenchival 2010 took place in Leicester on the 7th and 8th August. The festival was held at the Fabrika Independent Arts Centre in the heart of Leicester.
The first day saw us all at a workshop where we made our very own Atari Punk Console. At a past fizzPOP event Jimmie Rodgers brought a few of the kits to make these with him but unfortunatley I was spoilt for choice by all of the other kits and didn’t get to build one. The instructor for this workshop was Stu Smith, better known as ASMO (Anti Social Musik Order), who is a well known circuit bender from Leicester.