7.21.2005

Circuit Bending


Circuit bending is an experimental art form in which the circuit boards of common electronic toys are rewired in order to produce interesting visual art pieces and experimental sounds. Once the rewiring of the toy is complete, the artist will often times change the external look of the toy through the application of paint or objects. OnAnti-therory's website they go into detail about the tools that you will need in order to circuit bend, as well as instructions on how to do it.

A huge list of other circuit bending websites, discussion boards, and artist listings can be found on Cementimental's website.This is one big clearing house for circuit bending.

I'm not sure if true circuit benders would consider the following to be an example of their art, but I do. The Barbie Liberation Organization created a project in which they switched the voice boxes of GI Joe figures with Barbie dolls. In the end they had GI Joe's complaining that math is hard and Barbies saying "Vengence is mine!!!" The whole project brings into question the socialization of children through toys, as well as gender roles in our society.

1 Comment:

  1. dsgran said...
    I love this idea! I think it would be something that many of my students would enjoy (as a video teacher, I get a lot of the self-taught-tech-smart kids) - but I'd get a kick out of it as well.

    Here is an interesting article I came across just after reading this post. Not a resource, but a great explanation of why to mod.

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