circuit bending is the modification and re-purposing of (typically defunct) electronics from a perspective that is entirely uninterested in engineering, but is instead concerned with creation, experimentation, and expression. while circuit bending has traditionally focused on musical devices, video bending has become increasingly accessible as “obsolete” 90s/oughts video gear can be found affordably or even being discarded.

this is a single-session workshop providing an opportunity for hands-on learning; attendees will learn the basics of video bending by diving in and doing; our time in the the workshop will focus primarily on letting attendees craft pieces from their own media. so if you’ve ever been curious about analog video, circuit bending, or weird glitchy imagery and how you might incorporate that into your own creations, then this workshop is for you!

all attendees will receive a robust resource guide providing additional information on how to build their own gear and many other avenues they may wish to pursue. these resources are completely free and will also be publicly available for attendees to share and use as they like: as one might expect from a medium centered in creating art from the discarded, circuit bending and it’s community place a heavy emphasis on accessibility of information, so sharing knowledge and resources is very encouraged!

learning outcomes

- understand the basic principals behind circuit bending
- learn how to use analog video signals to create glitched video
- create your own piece of glitch art (still or video)
- learn techniques for capturing analog glitches for use in a digital world

agenda

- what is circuit bending/video bending/glitch art?
- what is all this old stuff and how does it make art?
- how do i get the art off that old tv and into my phone/computer so i can actually do something with it?

creation & q/a: (remaining time)

during this time participants will create their own pieces. alex will be available to assist as well as answer any questions folks may have about circuit bending in general, or how they might incorporate it into their own work.

required materials

all optional:

two separate pieces of media you want to combine to create your piece (media will be available for those who don’t have any or only bring one). vhs tape or dvd (max 1), or an sd card (full size), or usb drive (can bring 2) containing video files, short clips work especially well, most common formats supported but if in doubt go with .mp4;

still images, most common formats are okay but .png or .jpg are sure things, transparency will be interpreted as black so modify backgrounds as desired in advance, stills can be played as an automated slideshow if they are all collected in a single folder with no other files; gifs, really useful for combining collections of stills into a loop, ezgif or similar is a great free tool to make .gifs from any media you currently have.

there are also free camera apps you may want to download in advance if you have a phone that supports them: blackmagic camera is great for taking video, and project indigo is ideal for taking stills.

alex perry is one half of get circuit bent; his wife leah kucera is the other half. he uses get circuit bent for this kind of thing since his name is completely un-googleable.

based out of west oakland, get circuit bent provides free education and edutainment content via our youtube channel and website. we also sell tools that other benders can use to make their own pieces alongside pieces of our own.