BENT: A Showcase of Circuit Bending at VIVO

BENT: A Showcase of Circuit Bending at VIVO

Saturday, November 7th . Doors at 7pm.

If you’re remotely interested in electronics, experimental music, hacking, or just want to get transported to another dimension, this event is worth visiting. Suggested donation is $10. No one turned away for lack of funds. All donations go towards making this and other events like it, possible. You can RSVP in advance via Eventbrite.

Featuring over 15 artists/hackers and musicians, this evening is a showcase of Vancouver artists and makers exploring the art of circuit bending.

There will be a circuit playground, a “Show and Tell” of different projects, and performances throughout the evening.

Performances/Schedule:


7:15 pm:

Giorgio Magnanensi • Kedrick James - glitchdrones

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A set of textures, clouds and grains using rewired Texas Instruments speech synths, chaotic synth and granular video glitches. With Kedrick James, voice and electronics.

8 pm:

Frederick Brummer - “Tape/Disc”

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The Tape/Disc system is a remix of the turntable : a hybrid between audio tape and 12″ records, the system is a purely analog recording medium, sampler, and audio looper. The project was developed with
support of a research grant from the Canada Council for the Arts and has recently toured through Seattle and Portland as part of the NorthWest Loopfest. More info here: http://www.frederickbrummer.com/tape-disc/

8:15 pm:

Sara Gold & Emily Thacker - experimental researches in electricity

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Using a small selection of powerful vintage analog electronic instruments, Sara Gold will showcase the capabilities of such fine specimens as the paia 4700 modular system, Roland’s re-201 space echo and a Roland Tr-909 drum machine amongst others.

Emily has a keen interest in DIY audio electronics. Through an autodidactic process she has built various kits by Music From Outer Space, BleepLabs, Eric Archer and PAIA. In recent years her attention has been turned towards video synthesis and the offerings of Gijs Gieskes. She will be performing with her video synths and various feedback methods in collaboration with Sara Gold on audio.

8:45-9pm:

Show & Tell:

Russell Kramer

NES Zapper

Vincent van Haaff

Casio keyboard, Speak & spell mash-up. (1/2 a table). Furbies, speak & spell, stylophones, math & spell, etc.;

Theremin Demonstration

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Atari Punk Console Performance


An Atari Punk console is an astable square wave oscillator driving a monostable oscillator that creates a single (square) pulse. There are two controls, one for the frequency of the oscillator and one to control the width of the pulse. The controls are usually potentiometers but the circuit can also be controlled by light, temperature, pressure
etc. by replacing a potentiometer with a suitable sensor (e.g., photo resistor for light sensitivity). Most of the time there is also a power switch (often a toggle switch) and a volume knob.

9:15 pm:

Norah Lorway & Kiran Bhumber - A mixture of live code and performance hacking.

Kiran and Norah digitally circuit bend through real-time algorithmic
language Supercollider, creating dense ambients, beat-based textures,
capturing and live processing clarinet sound.

9:30 pm:

Chris Hixon

Featured Artists:

Giorgio Magnanensi
Born and raised in Italy, Giorgio Magnanensi currently lives in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. His diverse artistic practice includes composition, conducting, improvisation, circuit–bending and video art. From the early 80’s to date he has been working as a composer, conductor, teacher, and performer in Europe, Japan and Canada. He is artistic director of Vancouver New Music, Laboratorio Arts Society and lecturer at the School of Music of The Vancouver Community College.

Sara Gold
Under the art house banner “House of Gold”, Sara Gold has cultivated an audio/visual practice for over a decade. Her current instruments of choice include the use of hand built vintage analog modular synthesizers, reel to reel tape compression and an re-201 space echo to name a few. She currently creates soundtracks for film and her own music videos, eluding to darker themes. With a history of live performance, Sara now focuses on recorded works in her vancouver based studio practice carving experimental techno out of her instruments capabilities, transcending thier limitations.

Emily Thacker
Emily Thacker is a audio visual artist located in Vancouver, BC. Previously based in Montreal where she completed a BFA in the Film Production Department of Concordia University and initiated two festivals (Sonic Meltdown 1 and 2). She has performed her music and video pieces in Montreal, Vancouver and Washington

Frederick Brummer
Frederick Brummer is a musician, designer, and sound artist. His sonic inventions have been shown as interactive installations and featured in live performances at such illustrious venues as the VAG, SAG, Western Front, Vancouver New Music’s Circuit Cabaret Festival, and VIVO’s own Signal+Noise Media Art Festival.

Kiran Bhumber
Kiran Bhumber is a composer, performer, programmer and music-educator from Vancouver, Canada. She completed her Bachelors of Music (2014) degree majoring in Secondary Music Education (Clarinet Concentration) from the University of British Columbia.

Kiran Bhumber’s work focuses on motion-tracking technology and new interfaces for musical expression to create both sonic and visual interactive environments for performers and audiences.

Norah Lorway
Norah Lorway is a Canadian live coding laptop performer, composer, software developer and pianist based in UK. She recently completed her Ph.D in Computer Music at University of Birmingham with Scott Wilson. Norah is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of British Columbia where she teaches SuperCollider and laptop orchestra. Her current [Canada Council for the Arts funded] research project deals with writing software to facilitate an accessible system for gesture control and live coding. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Birmingham where she is a researcher with BEER (Birmingham Ensemble for Electroacoustic Research) and teaches SuperCollider and interactive programming.

Bella McKee
Bella McKee is a musician, composer, teacher, artist, and aerialist from Vancouver. She is a member of VETO (Vancouver Experimental Theremin Orchestra) and works for a local engineering company manufacturing electric bicycle conversion kits. When she’s not flying high in the sky, or playing with her band, she is in her bedroom recording music and messing around with synthesizers and other electronics.

David Leith
From early childhood experiments trying making his parents clocks run backwards and robot controlled curtains Dave quickly moved into the world of circuit bending and building. His current artist practice includes design, photography and sound art as well as construction of analog synthesizers/electronics. Current he is developing custom Max/MSP/Jitter software for both audio compositions and multi-media installations which has been exhibited recently in the Patterns show at Aberthau, Thru The Trap Door (On Main Gallery with LocoMotoArt), Queen Elizabeth Park and VIVO’s Signal & Noise Festival.

Rob Symmers
Rob started working with electronics at the age of twelve, long before every electronic store had kits – back then it was a trip to the library to get a book on scratch built projects. The first was a crystal radio that worked surprisingly well. The next years were followed by light sensing, relay control and other projects that are lost in the sands of time… At sixteen he bought an acetylene welding set and started making metal art. His work history encompassed custom sheet metal shops, machine shops, marine fabrication and electrical. Now he works full time creating kinetic sculptures and sound art in his home machine shop.

Russell Kramer
Russell creates interactive audio visual environments through repurposing obsolete technology.

Chris Hixon
Chris Hixon is the brains behind local weirdo band Baboon Torture Divison. A longtime explorer of sonic frontiers, he began circuit bending in in 1997 when he stepped on the voicebox of a singing Santa Clause, causing it to glitch. After obtaining some soldering knowhow, the board was installed in a toy gun with a speaker in the barrel, and the glitch hooked up to the trigger. Since then he has been an avid bender of talking toys and old Casios and has been continuously involved in noise one local noise band or another.

Garnet Hertz
Dr. Garnet Hertz is Canada Research Chair in Design and Media Arts and is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Design and Dynamic Media at Emily Carr. His art and research explores themes of DIY culture and interdisciplinary art / design practices. He has shown his work at several notable international venues in thirteen countries including SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, and DEAF and was awarded the 2008 Oscar Signorini Award in robotic art. Hertz is founder of Dorkbot SoCal, a monthly Los Angeles-based lecture series on DIY culture, electronic art and design. He has worked at Art Center College of Design and University of California Irvine. His research is widely cited in academic publications, and popular press on his work has disseminated through 25 countries including The New York Times, Wired, The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, NBC, CBS, TV Tokyo and CNN Headline News. More info: http://conceptlab.com/

Vincent van Haaff
Vincent van Haaff is a multi-disciplinary media artist working with computer code to explore virtual and real spaces defined by rule-based systems. Originally from Southern California, he went from a record label co-founder and audio hacker in Los Angeles to an environmental club founder in Santa Barbara before moving to Vancouver to become a software developer and media artist. His expertise spans from data and music visualizations to computer vision, event and community installation, and user-centred design.

Wynne Palmer
Wynne Palmer is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, arts administrator and educator. She is currently a co-founder and member of the Vancouver Experimental Theremin Orchestra, assistant administrator for 20 media artists in the digital eco-art group LocoMotoArt, and artist in residency with the Vancouver Park Board from 2013-2016. Holding a BFA (Graphic Design + Photography), BFA Visual Arts and certificates and diplomas in communication design and business administration, she has exhibited and performed internationally. Wynne has a keen interest in community engagement, from building skills with media arts to the business of being an artist. www.wynnepalmer.net

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