Meaning of circuit bending

Circuit bending is rewiring electronic toys to produce new sounds or visuals. A bender takes the electricity  and points it to a strange shortcut. The new sound is usually bizarre and unpredictable. Blur, Devo and Kraftwerk have used circuit bent instruments in their music. However what's the meaning of this act?

Photo by Casper Electronics

Circuit bending is done in three stages. First the instruments circuit is exposed and using a wire, new paths for electricity are tried. The combinations that produce interesting sounds are marked down. Anything potentially harmful or dangerous is left aside. The new paths are tried with different resistors and condenser and the productive ones are equipped with switches and fitted on the casing. In the last stage all the different possibilities are tried combined.

Circuit bending is a way of resistance and anarchy. In life "fight the system" and "fight the machine" are statements that "cool punk kids" make. In circuit bending they are very real, as the machine and its system exist physically. The bender opposes the system and rewires it to fit its needs. Bending toys made by corporations isn't playing nice. The toys meant to be mentally dulling for children end up in the hands of music enthusiasts, who use them in practical ways and might even make money doing so. Toys are rewired into tools.

Bender reroutes electricity

Circuit bending can also be seen as a virus as it's installed on the working unit and begins altering its performance. The original isn't altered but rather upgraded, this can be seen as benevolent physical hacking. It opposes conformist consuming and makes the user a co-author of the product, claiming power over it.

Stay mad!