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Circuit-Bending

Reed Ghazala is a musician, a visual artist and an electronic alchemist. He's the father of a whole school of electronic instruments, all built using a technique Reed calls "Circuit-Bending." Essentially, he rewires sound devices—old Speak & Spell toys, cheap Casio keyboards, etc.—in subtle and technically incorrect ways. This changes the sound and functioning of the device completely and results in a remarkable instrument that no one would have ever set out to make, but that anyone who appreciate unique noisemakers can appreciate. Some of the people and groups who've enjoyed Reed's noise machines include Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson's Pat Mastalotto, Faust, Chris Cutler, Towa Tei, Yann Tomita and Blur.

Reed sells his homemade instruments and offers his services for bending the circuits in your own devices. On his site you'll find his sound and visual art, reviews and info on how to do your own circuit-bending.

http://www.anti-theory.com

Posted by Kadrey at 07:42 PM | Comments (0) January 18, 2003

Other Gods

UFO weirdos, the Raelians hit every news bureau in the world when they announced they'd cloned the first human. Then, they disappeared just as fast when they couldn't prove it. Still, their 15 minutes of fame is a good reminder that fringe groups are doing a lot of sophisticated work trying to keep their leaders and/or god(s)/goddess(es) happy. Aum Shinrikyoh sarin-gassed a shitload of Tokyo commuters to put a smile on the face of their leader. Heaven's Gate followers in San Diego didn't stop at voluntary castration; they committed mass suicide to hitch a ride on the Mother Ship. And the Scientologists still party down in Hollywood.

If you ever wanted background info on exactly who these groups are, the University of Virginia has kindly set up an extensive database of alternate religions, with their background and belief systems. Hell, maybe those voices in your head don't mean your crazy. Just religious!

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/profiles/listalpha.htm

Posted by Kadrey at 05:54 PM | Comments (0) January 14, 2003

Outsider Art

Outside Art is a hazy term. It's art by people who often don't think of themselves as artists. Outsider artists are often rural, mostly untrained, sometimes mentally disturbed, and all eccentric and unique.

Outside Art got a bad name in the 90s because it became the hot new investment property for gallery and collector weasels looking for The Next Big Thing. However, in the rush to hate the process that marketed the art like Big Macs, the art itself kind of got bumped off the map.

This is too bad. Outsider art, whether you like the term or not, is a wonderful thing to behold. In a world where most artists are easily identified and categorized by their styles and influences, outsider artists remain apart. What makes the work so interesting is that it's often seems to have formed entirely in the untrained artist's head with no outside influence at all. At least nothing farther away than, say, the local church or the borders of their rural county. The best outsider art remains worthy stuff by talented eccentrics who want nothing more than to show you how remarkable the world looks through their eyes.

http://outsider.art.org
http://www.rawvision.com

Posted by Kadrey at 05:53 PM | Comments (0) January 12, 2003

The ElectriClerk

Sometimes you have no use for something, but lust for it. Especially if the object isn't real. When I was younger, I longed to see a real copy of The Necronomicon. After seeing "5 Million Years to Earth," I was devastated to find out that science hadn't really invented a machine that could record your dreams.

The ElectriClerk, a prop built by artist Andrew Leman, is a lovely example of making something unreal real. If you loved the look of Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil, you will love this utterly absurd information device. Part typewriter, part computer, it's a ridiculous chimera of opposing technologies, and all the more beautiful for it.

http://www.ahleman.com/ElectriClerk.html

Posted by Kadrey at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) January 07, 2003

Implosion World

Mikhail Bakunin, anarchist and bomb-throwing fruitbat, famously said, "The urge for destruction is also the creative urge." It's no wonder then that watching buildings fall down in controlled implosions by demolition experts, is a fine and fun past time.

Implosion World takes you inside the world of explosive demolition, with history and cool facts. But mostly it's about watching stuff blow up and fall apart.

http://www.implosionworld.com

Posted by Kadrey at 02:50 PM | Comments (0) January 03, 2003

Necrophony

Through the 19th and into the early 20th century, electricity was often seen as something closer to magic than science. Electricity was invisible, yet you could feel it by touching a charged plate, the same kind of plate that could make dead flesh jump. Electricity was some bound up with ideas of "life force" and the alchemical notion of "ethereal fire." When it was discovered that electricity generated magnetic fields, electro-magnetism also took on this occult quality.

It's been argued that when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he wasn’t looking for the newest in communication technology, but a way of talking to the dead, mainly his dead brother. Marconi believed that invisible radio waves could cross between the land of the living and the dead. So did Tesla.

Probably the most famous researcher to dabble in this kind of techno-spiritualism was Thomas Edison. In the 1920s, Edison's last work was on a "spirit phone" or "spirit communicator." A well-known workaholic, Edison didn't let death slow him down and allegedly transmitted even more info on the subject to the medium Sigrum Seuterman in 1967.

"Necrophony," a term coined by Michael Doherty, has a rich and interesting history. For a good lowdown on this interzone of technology and spiritualism, take a look at Andrew Cooke's article, "ELECTROPLASM."

http://www.crd.rca.ac.uk/alumni/00-02/andy/plasmic-city.htm

Posted by Kadrey at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)