Altered Zones

Recently, Motherboard TV spent a weekend with Reed Ghazala, the Cincinnati-based artist and Renaissance man who inadvertantly discovered circuit bending back in 1966/67, when a battery-powered toy amplifier short circuited inside his desk drawer. The video drops just in time for Bent Festival, an annual DIY electronics convention that will be convening for the eighth time at 319 Scholes in Bushwick this weekend. Press play to learn how Ghazala came up with the term--- the answer's a lot less scientific than you think-- and how circuit bending is not only one of the world's oldest electronic art forms, but one of its most democratic (hint: it's basically free!). --Emilie Friedlander, Altered Zones

If you are an aspiring knob-turner, and have any questions for Reed about circuit bending, Bent Fest, or anything under the sun, he's currently answering questions on Reddit