Sorry, no Kanye. But the Bent Festival will be hitting LA, New York, and Minneapolis over the next month, showcasing the finest in circuit-bending musical acts, as well as workshops that will let you try it for yourself. “The term circuit bending refers to the act of modifying the circuitry of battery-powered children’s toys to create strange, new, and unintended sounds for creative purposes. Instead of merely watching a person’s face glowing in the screen of a laptop, the audience can watch performers wrangle squelches, bleeps, groans, and blips out of everyday childhood toys. This is fun to watch, and fun to do.” Sure looks like it!

Each year, The Tank invites benders from across the country and around the globe to perform concerts with their circuit bent instruments, to teach workshops to adults and children alike, and to generally descend on our fair city for a week of sharing and showing off their skills. This year the festival is being expanded to include not only New York, but Los Angeles and Minneapolis as well.

If you have the least bit of curiosity about electronics or electronic music, or if you’ve ever just really wanted to rip your toys apart, this festival is for you. Each day we will have open studios with expert benders on hand to help you get started. There will be installation artists building circuit-bent artwork throughout the spaces in each city. There will be a full schedule of in-depth workshops and nightly concerts of some of the best circuit benders in the world. It is genuinely fun for the whole family. You will have a blast.

If you’re a schoolteacher in any of these three cities, I strongly suggest hooking up a field trip.

Bent Festival [Via Tiny Mix Tapes]
Bent Festival 2005 DVD Highlights [Youtube]
What Is Circuit Bending? [Youtube]