Nesta pesquisa analiso as metodologias de luteria experimental chamadas Circuit-Bending e Hardware Hacking, as quais englobo no termo Circuito Alterado, criado especificamente para este trabalho. Tais metodologias baseiam-se na construção de aparelhos musicais a partir da reutilização de componentes eletrônicos descartados. O principal objetivo desta dissertação é estabelecer relações contextuais entre os três atos fundamentais envolvidos na alteração de circuitos - abrir o circuito, tateá-lo em busca de sonoridades interessantes e multiplicar a metodologia, através de concertos, blogs e/ou oficinas - e questões culturais relacionadas a cada ato. / On this research I analyze the experimental luthier methodologies called Circuit-Bending and Hardware Hacking, which I call Circuito Alterado (Altered Circuits). This methodologies are based in the construction of musical instruments from the reuse of obsolete electronic components. The main goal of this dissertation is to establish contextual relationships between the tree acts involved in the methodologies - to open-up the circuit, to touch it, in the search of interesting sonorities and to multiply it, through concerts, blogs and/or workshops - and cultural issues related to each act.

Nesta pesquisa analiso as metodologias de luteria experimental chamadas Circuit-Bending e Hardware Hacking, as quais englobo no termo Circuito Alterado, criado especificamente para este trabalho. Tais metodologias baseiam-se na construção de aparelhos musicais a partir da reutilização de componentes eletrônicos descartados. O principal objetivo desta dissertação é estabelecer relações contextuais entre os três atos fundamentais envolvidos na alteração de circuitos - abrir o circuito, tateá-lo em busca de sonoridades interessantes e multiplicar a metodologia, através de concertos, blogs e/ou oficinas - e questões culturais relacionadas a cada ato. / On this research I analyze the experimental luthier methodologies called Circuit-Bending and Hardware Hacking, which I call Circuito Alterado (Altered Circuits). This methodologies are based in the construction of musical instruments from the reuse of obsolete electronic components. The main goal of this dissertation is to establish contextual relationships between the tree acts involved in the methodologies - to open-up the circuit, to touch it, in the search of interesting sonorities and to multiply it, through concerts, blogs and/or workshops - and cultural issues related to each act.

Unstable Systems or Why Is My Junk So Raw? is an exploration in the raw aesthetics of exposed electronics; showing the complicated systems that make our everyday electronics work using the visual language of formalism to display these “broken” consumer electronics as art. The work in my thesis show explores the creative potential of death and impermanence through the failing of technology. The work in the exhibition combines my interest and childhood fascination in electronics as well as my experience with my father’s illness. Accidentally and intentionally broken TV’s and electronics are producing live glitches which emphasize the instability of these otherwise closed systems.

Mémoire en recherche-création. / Ce mémoire de recherche-création explore le processus de conception et de production menant à la performance audiovisuelle Capter les fréquences optiques. Ce processus repose sur la rétro-ingénierie de dispositifs optiques, tels que des têtes de numériseurs, afin de générer des sons et des images à partir d'objets en proximité des senseurs. Des panneaux solaires sont également détournés de leur fonction habituelle afin de rendre audibles diverses sources lumineuses. Les stratégies d’élaboration dans la création de ces dispositifs de lutherie expérimentale entre en résonances avec la culture du do-it-yourself (le faire par soi-même), caractérisée en partie par le recyclage, l’intégration des résidus et le détournement. Passant par la notion de nostalgie technologique vers la matérialité du bruit et de l’approche critique dans le glitch art, ce texte examine comment la matérialité infuse le processus à travers la réappropriation d’objets électroniques. Par conséquent, l'œuvre met en évidence la façon dont la matérialité des circuits électroniques sert de vecteur d'agentivité, jouant un rôle esthétique et conceptuel crucial tout au long du processus de création, et ce, jusqu'au contexte de la performance. / This research-creation memoir explores the design and production process leading to the audiovisual performance Capturing Light Frequencies. This process relies on the reverse engineering of optical devices, such as scanner heads, to generate sounds and images from objects in proximity to their sensors. Solar panels are also redirected from their usual function to generate sound from various light sources. The strategies employed in these experimental instruments resonate with the do-it-yourself culture, characterized in part by recycling, the integration of residuals and hardware hacking. Examining the notion of technological nostalgia towards the materiality of noise and the critical approach in glitch art, this text examines how materiality infuses the process through the appropriation of electronic circuitry. Consequently, the work highlights how the materiality of electronic circuits serves as a vector of agentivity, playing a crucial aesthetic and conceptual role throughout the creative process, right up to the context of performance.

This thesis describes how I took part in a series of collaborations with dancers Danai Pappa and Katie Hall, musician George Williams and video artist Julie Kuzminska. To realise our collaborations, I built electronic sculptural instruments from junk using bricolage, the act of subversion, skip diving and appropriation. From an auto-ethnographic viewpoint, I explored how collaborations began, how relationships developed and how various levels of expertise across different disciplines were negotiated. I examined how the documentation of the performances related to, and could be realised as, video art in their own right. I investigated the themes of work, labour and effort that are used in the process of producing and documenting these works in order to better understand how to ‘create’. I analysed the gender dynamics that existed between my collaborators and myself, which led to the exploration of issues around interaction and intimacy, democratic roles and live art. The resulting works challenged gender stereotypes, the notion of what a musical instrument can be and how sound is produced through action/interaction. I found that reflective time was imperative; serendipity, constant awareness of one’s environment, community and intimate relationships greatly enhanced the success of the collaborations. Instruments became conduits and instigators with shifting implied genders based on their context or creative use. As well as sound being a product of movement, effort and interaction, I realised it was also an artefact of the instruments.