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Category Archives: BentFest
Bent Festival 2010 Photos by Mindphone_Divided
Pictured above. Dr. Rek
Mindphone_Divided uploaded a very good set of photos from the recent 2010 Bent Festival. Looks like Dr. Rek was in the house so we will see video from the event sometime in the future.
Bent Festival 2010 – April 22-24
The Bent Festival 2010 is happening this week April 22-24 Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Brooklyn NY. Many experimental artists from US and overseas are schedruled to play, although the crazy volcano action may prove otherwise. Hope everyone can make it! FB Event Page.
Circuit Bending Documentary and a New Website
Dr Rek has updated Absurdity.biz to feature a blog and better ordering options for the Bent Festival DVDs. The most recent of which is the 2008 Bent Festival in Minneapolis. He was also kind enough to send me a copy of the DVD. Having been at the Festival in Minneapolis I think the Documentary captured the mood very well, stage setups were very nice with great lighting on the performers. Through out the event Rek would pull people behind closed doors for “The Interview” and now the secrets of what happened are revealed on this DVD. It is extremely cool to see fellow circuit benders talking about their influences, discoveries, and thoughts on the subject. Great Job!
Bent Festival Tonight in NYC
Tonight April 16th is the opening day of the annual Circuit Bending Festival called Bent. Festivities will feature daily free beer from 7PM – 7:30PM sponsored by Beer Lao. Past experiences indicate that it will be very very cheap beer. Tickets are $10 each night. Location is The Tank in NYC. Have fun!
Lineup this evening:
7:00PM
Dr. Bleep
7:40PM
VBLANK / Wil Lindsay
8:20PM
Christopher McDonald
9:00PM
Computer at Sea
9:40PM
Rhythmmemory
10:20PM
Playboy’s Bend
Eraser – Bent 2008 Minneapolis
Eraser – Bent 2008 Minneapolis from Derek Sajbel on Vimeo.
Absurdity.biz just posted a teaser segment from the upcoming Bent Fest 2008 DVD. A performance and an interview from the Italian circuit bender Matteo aka EraSer. Enjoy.
Bent Fest NYC 2009 More Info
At appears that the Bent Fest 2009 website was updated recently with some good information. The Fest will be held at The Tank in NYC on April 16-19th, 2009. Tickets are $10 each night or $25 for a 3 Day Pass available here.
So far the Performers are:
All Over the Where
ASMO (Anti Social Musik Order)
Lesley Flanigan (performing Speaker Synth)
Peter Edwards of Casperelectronics
Events:
Concert #1 – Apr 16, 7 PM
Nic Collins “Handmade Electronic Music”
Book Release Party– Apr 17, 6 PM
Concert #2 – Apr 17, 7 PM
Concert #3 – Apr 18, 7 PM
Workshops– Apr 19, 12 AM
Installations – Daily
Address:
The Tank
354 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
Bent Festival 2009 Open Call – NYC
Looks like the 2009 Bent Festival is set to happen in New York this year. There has been talk about not having the festivals back to back as they were in the past, but this point we don’t know the dates or whether the Minneapolis and LA events will happen. For those who have never attended a Bent Fest, I highly recommend it as a great opportunity to meet fellow musicians and artists as well as to check out all the bent gear in 3D. The workshops are also extremely informative and do cover a wide spectrum of interests from beginner to very advanced topics.
Bent Fest 2008 NYC – GetLoFi Gallery
<Open Call Below>
Bent Festival 2009 Open Call
The Tank is currently accepting proposals for:
New York Bent Festival – April 16th-18th, 2009.
Proposal Deadline: February 5th, 2009
Participant Notification: February 15, 2009
In keeping with the expanding interests of the community, this year we are continuing to open the Bent Festival to performers and artists that create their own electronics as well as to those who hack, bend, modify and destroy them. We are currently seeking performers and artists to participate at the New York Bent Festival and are specifically looking for submissions in these categories:
Performers, Installation Artists, Artwork Submissions and Workshop Instructors.
Please send all proposals and questions to:
New York Bent Festival – bentnyc@thetanknyc.org
PERFORMERS
Bent Festival seeks bands and/or solo artists who incorporate home built or circuit bent instruments or ideas in their performance.
To have your work considered: Please email a short description of your act, along with a link to mp3s and photos if you have them. (Please do not send attachments larger than 1MB).
INSTALLATION ARTISTS
Bent Festival is looking for installation artists who can commit at least 15 hours to creating site-specific pieces of art at each of the venues during the duration of the festival.
Installation artists will be provided with space, materials, electronic equipment and tools as we are able.
To have your work considered: Please submit via email a one-page proposal of your installation idea along with examples of your past work. Please be prepared to commit to spending time in the installation space during the festival and be prepared for a shared and at times hectic work environment. No white walls here!
ARTWORK SUBMISSIONS
In addition to installation artists, we would like to have featured art work that fits with the spirit of the festival from people who might not be able to join us in person or who cannot commit to working in the space during the duration of the festival.
To have your work considered: Please submit via email digital images or links of your work and a brief description.
WORKSHOP INSTRUCTORS
Bent Festival is seeking workshop instructors to present on various topics. Topics in previous years have included: Genera circuit bending workshops for beginners an extremely technical, hands on workshops on a particular aspect or niche of the genre.
To have your work considered: Please describe the subject you would like to lead a workshop on and provide a one-page description of that workshop, in addition include links or examples of your current and past work in the field.
COMPENSATION
Stipends for all festival performers, artists, and workshop leaders will be provided. We have a limited number of travel grants available as well. Please contact for more information.
CONTACT INFO
New York Bent Festival – bentnyc@thetanknyc.org
Thanks,
Suzan Eraslan
General Manager
The Tank
http://www.thetanknyc.org
http://www.bentfestival.org
Bent Fest 2008 Minneapolis Round Up Pt 3.
It was kind of scary playing at the Minneapolis Bent Festival 2008 because every single performer was so good. Really makes you want to get done with your set and set the bar, otherwise its a battle of the greatest.
More galleries are up online and videos are coming soon I hear. Check it out.
Creme Dementia also posted his photos from the fest here. The guy had a wireless camera mounted on his head thanks to Tim Kaiser. Also the first performer Saturday evening to request the Disco Ball turned on. Can’t wait for the video of this.
There are also some preliminary videos out mainly of Beatrix*Jar who put on an insane set! Also brought in their own VJ for the job: Wiimote and everything, pretty awesome.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=QJ5F1J2Be0c[/youtube]
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=SHroAs2nyGo[/youtube]
Enjoy.
The Wide World of Circuit Bending
( From Left: Igloo Martian, Circuit Ben, Datura 1.0, TC, Eraser, Jar from Beatrix*Jar )
Written By: Rodney Clark
Here I am three days after getting back from Bent Fest MPLS 2008 and I’m still a buzz. Once again I made the journey with my brother (Igloo Martian) whom I picked up in route in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was slated that same night to open the festivities for MPLS with a performance at 8pm. It was the start of an endless assault of bent madness. Every single performer, Installation artist, and workshop host, gave it their all and none fell short of amazing. There were 3 installations, 5 workshops, 1 BBQ, and 18 live performances. Notables this year were all of the international friends I had a chance to make. In the Midwest we were graced with artist such as, Eraser from Italy, Dr. Rek from Japan, and The Circuit Ben Reaction along with DJ Tendraw from the UK. All of whom were the coolest cats east of the pond. I spent most of the down time chillin’ with the European crowd, taking to them about thrifting. The look on their eyes… as they walked into the thrift shops, was that of a child on his or her 6th birthday. It was altogether the greatest gift to these guys… just to walk into the places we seldom celebrate, due to our lack of any shortage of thrifting in the USA. They were all quick to let me know they have nothing like it in their countries and were stoked to be able to score a few good possible bends on the cheap. Beside the international crowd, there were a few other national benders I had wanted to meet for a while. So that too was a huge pleasure, not to mention all the old friends and faces from past gatherings I was able to reconnect with. All in all a great weekend full of bending. (Oh…and somewhere during the weekend I sold a couple CD’s and fit in a performance of my own, under the preforming name Life as Number Five.) In closing…probably the biggest thing I took away, was the fact that the art of Bending is spreading. With the influx of regional and international artist’s only verifies the fact that this is no longer an American monopoly of a talent pool. Rather we need to branch out to Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, Africa, and yes if need be, the Antarctic. We should work on getting a fest to populated bent areas of the globe. Travel cost hold many back whom would like to be a part of the festivities. Maybe a festival…even if not under the name “BENT FEST” for a location / destination in my opinion would work out fine. As long as it’s an event organized to gather and spread the word of the art, that is quickly gaining a crowd. Until next year my friends!
DJ Tendraw – Photo by Stephen.Squared
Dr Rek. – Photo by Stephen.Squared