Workshop:
Data Workshop 3.0: AV Circuit Bending
Location:
Filmbase, Curved Street Building, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Cost:
30 EURO (for basic materials, etc..)
Instructors:
Karl Klomp
Workshop Description:
To better understand our daily environment it is interesting and essential to explore the fields of electronic devices and electronic toys. Deconstructing established structures of cheap electronic devices into a performance tool is more than a lot of fun. By repurposing second hand hardware or cheap toys you turn a commercial device into a new tool, with new expressions for you and the outcome of the modified tool.
The boundaries of a cheap device are set by the manufacturer. Everyone (age 8-80) how’s circuit bending for the first time will totally forget this boundaries and will have another look on cheap audio/video devices. They will see the potention of a device without outstanding technical knowledge about electronics which can lead to re-stucture established techniques and use circuit bending as a expression.
The recent years have witnessed an impressive surge of new live audio-visual practices. As with every generation of moving image tools (film in the 1920′s, video in the 1960′s, graphics-enabled laptop in the 1990′s), democratization of access has allowed artists to invent languages and art forms that redefine what cinema can be. But with the introduction of the computer analog device for audio and video editing became obsolete. The computer combines the functions of restricted analog devices into one tool. But the big problem of computers is the tangibility and practical understanding. When working with unstable media the interface becomes important to the user. It is the communication between the actions and implementation. Circuit bending is direct and very tangible. You see, hear immediately what you are doing and what it causes. In combination with the change of finding a your ‘bends’ this practice is becoming more and more important to users that work with unstable media.
Our target group are people (max. 8 persons) how have experience with circuit bending and are interested in audio visualizing and expression. Combining devices like cheap video mixers, radio’s, video painters and guitar effects into a workable audiovisual performing tool is the aim of this workshop. We have three different ready-to-bend projects. We guide people to a new world of audio visualizing with a focus on interfacing and support them with techniques, information or guide the way to there information.
The aim of repurposing devices is partly for myself, partly for the community. I would like to have a visual performing tool with a interface that aloud me to express myself on intuitive reaction. In order to provide a cultural feedback loop (I get tools and information of the web, develop ideas based on that information, create work reflecting those ideas with appropriate tools) I upload that work with a tutorial to a World Wide Web where other artists can explore the ideas embedded in the work.
