CBB 2019 performers, clockwise from top left: Calvin's Dad, Belly Full of Stars, Tim Kaiser, Adrienne Franke, Dream Chambers
In a room just off the main hallway at the arts-focused Wedgewood-Houston facility Track One, a number of folks kneel down to pick through piles of electronic odds and ends, the sort of stuff you’d expect to find in the back of a closet. Among the items for sale are stacks of toy keyboards that have been outgrown, an ’80s answering machine and a rainbow assortment of cables that came in a box with gadgets long forgotten. Everyone who spends a few dollars on a gizmo from the stacks sees its potential for artistic expression — once they’ve tinkered with it, at least. This is the Circuit Bent Garage Sale, and proceeds from it benefit the upcoming Circuit Benders’ Ball, a biennial festival of hardware hacking in the service of art and music, whose fifth edition is happening Saturday and Sunday.
“I really like the open-endedness of CBB,” says ball organizer Tyler Blankenship, stepping away from the sale to chat. “I like what it represents. Also, the sounds: things that are unheard-of, things that are inventive, fun — y’know, sprinkle some fun on it.”
Blankenship, a native of Huntsville, Ala., moved to Nashville in 2008 to study at Watkins College of Art. One inspiring thing he discovered as he explored the local art scene was the Circuit Benders’ Ball. Launched in 2010 by local maker-scene standard-bearer Tony Youngblood, the ball is a wide-ranging showcase that brings together folks who, like Blankenship, want to discover how devices generate and manipulate sound or images — and find ways to teach those devices new tricks.
Following two more iterations, Youngblood chose to hand the organization and management of the festival over to Blankenship, who first ran the ball in 2017. As he prepares for the 2019 event — set for this weekend at Little Harpeth Brewing and Adventure Science Center — Blankenship explains his goal for the fest: to chip away at preconceived notions of art, both as a defined body of work and a particular kind of experience.
“Throughout my academic art education, I found that there was too much focus on theory — critical academic writing about the merit and value of certain works of art over others,” he says. “And then there was also a trend, and it’s kind of a privileged trend, of elevating those works of art in sacred spaces, galleries that are white-walled. And when you think of ‘art,’ you put it in that box.”
This year’s Circuit Benders’ Ball offers more than 20 sets on two stages inside the multi-use performance space at Little Harpeth Brewing, featuring a diverse range of performers and approaches to performance. Minnesota instrument builder and circuit bender Tim Kaiser, whose previous appearances at the ball have leaned toward the hypnotic and ethereal, is set to perform, as is Kent Osborne, a Nashville musician known for his intense work in hip-hop and metal. Several artists plan to cross media, using hand-built, radically modified or intricately programmed electronic instruments along with electronic video processing. Among these: Cynthia Cárdenas’ synth-guitar-and-visuals work under the name Synthiasis; multimedia artist and wind instrument ace Robbie Lynn Hunsinger, in a trio with violinist Alicia Enstrom and keyboardist Matt Endahl; and a collaboration organized by Hyasynth House, a local electronic music collective focused on including women, trans and nonbinary individuals, featuring Belly Full of Stars, Adrienne Franke, Calvin’s Dad and Dream Chambers.
The Little Harpeth space will also feature inventive electronic art exhibits and gear demonstrations. In an effort to spread knowledge further, a slate of workshops is set to take place Saturday at Adventure Science Center. The selection includes Alien Instrument Basics, an introduction to circuit bending taught by video artist Sophia Gordon-Stevens, and Creative Code 101, an introduction to using software and microcontrollers taught by Hunsinger. (See the Circuit Benders' Ball Facebook profile for ticket and scheduling information.) Moving forward, Blankenship is exploring the idea of expanding the ball into something more permanent.
“We’re looking at possibly organizing into some kind of community-benefit, nonprofit situation,” Blankenship says, “and figuring out if Nashville is ready for a space that promotes or does smaller events that keep the flame going — whether it’s workshops, visits, pop-ups, things like that.”
