BEATRIX*JAR

Beatrix*JAR Booking Form

2012-01-24T00:18:00.007-06:00

Please click the image above to fill out the Beatrix*JAR Booking Form.

Beatrix*JAR ART PETS INQUIRY

2012-01-24T00:18:00.006-06:00

Please click the image above to fill out the Beatrix*JAR ART PETS Inquiry Form.

It's the Beatrix*JAR Mailing List!

2012-01-23T17:07:00.001-06:00

Beatrix*JAR Art Pets at Quirk Gallery

2012-01-02T00:38:00.007-06:00

We got an email message from Quirk Gallery in Richmond, Virginia challenging us to create a suitcase full of fabric items we'd grab for the end of the world.

The show is called "Grab It" and it opens January 5th.

Here are the things we would Grab:

ULU IS OUR PHOTOGRAPHY BIRD.
She keeps a photo album of our memories and she photographs new memories.
She collects vintage cameras too.
We think she should go digital.

YUKIMI is our FASHION CAT.
Yukimi is a very fashion forward cat.
She encourages us to try on different styles and new looks.
She is to ready to wear.

TRUDY IS OUR CREATIVITY
She's pretty moody but she encourages us to think about colors
and dance until sunrise. She's writing a novel and working on a
new line of fabric people.
Sometimes she looses track of time.

Sophia is our SEWING MACHINE CAT
She purrs at good fabric and encourages us to paint with thread.
She says "more stitches equals more love".

Bianca is our VISIONARY BIRD.
She loves to host social functions.
She is constantly developing a new plan.
She kind of has a lot of plans.

ALBERT is our FOODIE CAT
He is our personal chef and makes wonderful homemade meals with love from scratch.

Jacob Aaron is our SOUND ART CAT.
He gets excited by different rhythms.
He loves to beat-box and speaks in a rhyme all his own.
He's a drummer, but no one knows.

LAURENCE IS OUR EXPLORER BIRD
He encourages us to roam and explore new ideas and paths.
He loves to run and jump and is always on the go.
Sometimes he forgets his wallet.

FREDRICK IS OUR RATIONAL CAT.
He keeps us grounded and encourages us to make realistic decisions.He likes to have fun too. Just within reason.

GRIZZLY IS OUR GOOD INSTINCT BIRD
She encourages us to sniff out situations,
feed ourselves and stay on track so we'll keep our energy in tact.

Beatrix*JAR on Natasha Kozlova's Blog

2011-12-27T21:41:00.000-06:00

Click on the image above to visit Natasha's Blog and read her entry about Beatrix*JAR.

One of a KIND PETS

2011-11-30T10:38:00.038-06:00

Beatrix*JAR Kind Pets are an exciting new collaboration between Bianca Pettis and Jacob Roske of Beatrix*JAR and renowned Russian photographer Natasha Kozlova.

Sven from Sweden
Photograph by Natasha Kozlova

KIND PET COLLABORATION

The collaboration started at Score Footwear in San Diego.
Jacob sold the shop owner Dimitry a set of handmade birds he and Bianca created.
Dimitry gave a bird to his friend Natasha for her birthday.
Natasha, a portrait photographer, loved her bird.
She photographed him.
She said he was "perfect, but not too perfect".

Later, Bianca and Jacob had a party for birds and cats at Score Footwear.
Natasha was there.
She asked Jacob and Bianca if she could make portraits of the birds and cats.
They said yes.
Bianca and Jacob created 13 pets for Natasha to shoot.
They decided that those birds and cats came to a conference in San Diego
called "Cats and Birds - New Turn In Relationships".
The conference was at the Convention Center.
So, birds and cats had portraits created around the Convention Center area.

They decided this first bird and cat portrait series would be called Kind Pets.

Derek "Giovanni" Birdshire from Italy
Photograph by Natasha Kozlova

Natasha Kozlova
Natasha Kozlova is a originally from Moscow, Russia. She is a former fashion and portrait photographer. Her work has been published in Russian editions of VOGUE, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Glamour to name a few.

Since moving to the US, she's shifted her attention to documentary and fine art photography. Her latest project: " Children of The Sun: Like All Of Us" will be displayed at the San Diego International airport in 2012. Her blog: http://natashakozlovaphotography.com/blog celebrates the life and people of San Diego through photography.

"This collaboration with Beatrix*Jar brings a lot of joy into my life. We just started and I believe we are going to create a lot of wonderful projects that will bring joy into lives of many other people."
- Natasha Kozlova

Beatrix*JAR
Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR) also known as the award winning sound art duo Beatrix*JAR are expressive self taught toy designers. Their aesthetic celebrates the handmade personality traits unique to each piece they create.

Each ART PET is HANDMADE and ONE OF A KIND created by Beatrix*JAR.

Puka Vida from India
Image by Natasha Kozlova

ART PET MATERIALS
100% Fleece
Filling: Fleece Scraps and Fiber Fill
Polyester and Crochet Thread
Buttons (Not suitable for young children who may pull them off and swallow them.)
Vinyl (Bird Beaks)

Our birds and cats are truly labors of love.

All ART PETS are Machine Washable unless indicated.

**************************************************************

BEATRIX*JAR HANDMADE DONATION

We're donating 10% of our sales to support the production costs of "Children of the Sun" a portrait series of Autistic children by Natasha Kozlova.

Natasha's project will be presented at the San Diego Airport in the Spring of 2012. She is raising funds to print 50x34 inch images using a stunning acrylic face mount lamination process.

MEET THE KIND PETS!

BEATRIX*JAR on ETSY

2011-11-29T21:59:00.014-06:00

PRESS

2011-10-13T16:04:00.001-05:00

Click on link below for articles:

Toy Tronica - San Diego Reader 2011

Beatrix*Jar: Hacking Away at MCASD - 2010

Video Pick: Beatrix JAR - Music - A.V. Video - The A.V. Club Twin Cities - 2010

City Pages: Beatrix*JAR

mnartists.org - Sky Bender - 2009

Nuvo: Beatrix*JAR - Sound Collage with Speak and Spell - 2009

Connect Savannah Online: Pulse pushes the boundaries of new media - 2009

Charleston City Paper: Beatrix*Jar Present Unique Workshop and Concert - 2009

Savannah Now: Art, Technology and Wild Electronica - 2009

Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog: Bending Circuits with Beatrix*JAR

City Pages: Gimme Noise - Beatrix Jar and Military Special at Turf Club - 2008

MN Daily.com: Circuit Bending is Electric Rainbow High Five Explosion! - 2008

University of Minnesota Wake Magazine: Interview with Beatrix*JAR - 2008

Erie Times News: Sound Bending Steals the Stage - 2008

Bent in the US and Ether in the UK and US

Honolulu Star Bulletin: Collage of Sound

City Pages Slideshow: Bent Festival at Intermedia Arts

Southwest Journal: Circuit Benders

Pittsburgh City Paper: Beatrix*JAR brings "fuzzy sound collage" to the Warhol - 2008

Eagan Sun Current: Toying with new sounds - 2008

Beatrix*JAR: MN Spin "This Weeks Playlist" - 2008

Maximum Fun (Online): Interview with Beatrix*JAR - 2007

Create Digital Music (Online): Golden Fuzz Review & Beatrix*JAR Interview - 2007

City Pages: Circuits Berzerkus - 2007

We Heart Music (Online): Golden Fuzz Review - 2007

Westword Denver: Untitled Series - 2007

GETLOFI.Com: Workshops 101 (An Interview with Beatrix*JAR) - 2007

Some Assembly Required: Beatrix*JAR Interview - 2007

We Heart Music: Beatrix*JAR and Bat for Lashes - Review, Video Clip - 2007

City Pages: Get Bent - Circuit Bending at the Bent Festival (2007)

Minnesota Public Radio: Beatrix*JAR Short Circuits the Music 2006

How was the show: Beatrix*JAR with Canadian at MN Museum of American Art

MNARTISTS.org: Mixed Tape - Circuit Bending with Beatrix*JAR (2006)

City Pages, Minneapolis: I Love You Talk Bird - Review (2006)

Rift Magazine, Minneapolis: I Love You Talk Bird - Review (2006)

City Pages, Minneapolis: Beatrix*JAR at the 7th Street Entry - Review (2005)

Stuff We Curated.

2011-10-13T15:00:00.005-05:00

Image by Joe Levack of Akron, Ohio

CONCERT OF FOUND SOUND AND AUDIO APPROPRIATION
Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art, University of Minnesota, Feb. 2008

A concert curated by Beatrix*JAR which featured artists which appropriate devices and sounds different from the intended use, this includes sound collage, found sounds, video games, circuit bending, D.I.Y. electronics, etc.

Bent Festival 2008 Minneapolis
Intermedia Arts - May 1 - May 3 2008

With fiscal and production support from the TANK NYC, Beatrix*JAR curated the 2008 Minneapolis Bent Festival an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit bending.

For several years the Bent Festival featured artists from across the country and around the globe.

Each day featured open studios with expert circuit benders and hardware hackers, there were installation artists building circuit-bent artwork throughout the space and nightly concerts featuring some of the best circuit benders and DIY electronics performers in the world.

MINNEAPOLIS BENT FESTIVAL PROGRAM

THURSDAY MAY 1
7pm - Bent Festival Reception / Art Opening / Listening Party (Lobby)

ART INSTALLATIONS
Jason Wihlem – INT_Routine, Milwaukee
Raul Gshrey – Cases, Germany
Mike Una – Beat and Bleep Bike, Chicago

8pm - BENT FESTIVAL CONCERTS
Datura 1.0 – Minneapolis
Igloo Martian – Wisconsin
Caly McMorrow – Minneapolis
Brian McKenna – Zero Bit Video, Amsterdam
EraSer – Italy
Beatrix*JAR - Minneapolis

FRIDAY MAY 2
7pm Highly Liquid Workshop

8pm - BENT FESTIVAL CONCERTS
Ronald J. Schleper – Denver
Life as Number Five – Wisconsin
Talking Computron – Iowa
Sounds Happy – Chicago
Circuit Ben – UK
Loud Objects - NYC

SATURDAY MAY 3 – AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

11:00pm - 1:00pm
INTRODUCTION TO CIRCUIT BENDING – Intermedia Arts Theatre
Beatrix*JAR & DJ Dan Demchuck
A great opportunity for kids of all ages to learn circuit bending! Bring an old battery powered electronic toy that makes noise to work on.

1:00pm – 3:00pm
555 TIMER APPLICATIONS WORKSHOP - Intermedia Arts Theatre
Mike Una and Alex Dyba (getlofi.com)
$3.00 Supply Cost / (Bring a Toy to modify).
Learn how a simple 555 timer circuit can open up a world of opportunities, like pitching down unbendable toys and adding a tremolo like effect on pitch resistors. During the workshop we will show you how to create a Theremin like synth and use 555's square-wave oscillations for injecting into the data lines to create randomness and glitches.

3pm – 4:30pm
ANALOG SENSOR DEVICES - Intermedia Arts Theatre
A Lecture with Mike Taylor
This workshop covers the basics of building and working with analog sensor devices. It will also cover the basics of physical computing by looking at some inexpensive ways to interface sensors with computers. I/O platforms will include the Arduino and CreateUSB interfaces. We will also look at software like PD, Max/MSP, Jitter, and Processing. After an overview of the basic hardware and software, the workshop will cover building basic sensors and the electronics theory for analog signal conditioning. We will look at resistive voltage dividers and direct voltage output types of sensors. I will demonstrate my 3D accelerometer ball, magnetic shaker ball, 3D light sensor, and a really easy to build ribbon controller. If time permits we will also look at some software programming for computer interfacing.

3:00pm - 5:00pm
CIRCUIT BENDING DRUM MACHINES - Intermedia Arts Library
Ron Schelper
Class Limited to 15
Learn how to creatively modify your 1980's PCM and analog drum machines. Some of the best rhythmic noise can be had from the Yamaha RX series and DD series, Roland TR series, Alesis HR and SR series, and Kawai R-50 as well as many kids toy drums. A brief primer on digital logic and analog circuits will be offered, and detailed instructions on my personal favorites, the Yamaha RX-17 and Roland TR-505, as well as instructions for other models as needed.

5:00pm – 7pm BENT BARBECUE

8pm - BENT FESTIVAL CONCERTS
Crème De Menthia – Illinois
Memory Selector – Minneapolis/Chicago
Albino Ghost Monkey - WI
Tim Kaiser – Duluth
DJ Tendraw - UK
Dr. Rek – Japan

CIRCUIT BENDING WORKSHOP IMAGES

2011-10-13T14:56:00.002-05:00

(The Science Museum of Minnesota - Saint Paul, MN)

(The Science Museum of Minnesota - Saint Paul, MN)

(Ong King Arts Center - Honolulu, HI)

(Ong King Arts Center - Honolulu, HI)

(Ong King Arts Center - Honolulu, HI)

(Ong King Arts Center - Honolulu, HI)

(Ong King Arts Center - Honolulu, HI)

(Red Block Bash - Blaffer Gallery - University of Houston, TX)

(Red Block Bash - Blaffer Gallery - University of Houston, TX)

(Red Block Bash - Blaffer Gallery - University of Houston, TX)

(Wexner Art Center - Columbus, Ohio)

(Wexner Art Center - Columbus, Ohio)

(Golden Valley Library - Teen Technology Month)

(Spark Center for the Arts - Minneapolis)

(American Visionary Art Museum - Baltimore)

(Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego - La Jolla)

(Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design - Milwaukee)

(Santa Monica Museum of Art - Santa Monica)

(Erie Art Museum - Erie, PA)

(Bent Festival 2007 - Minneapolis)

(Super Happy Fun Land - Houston)

JAR talks Circuit Bending with MPR Host Chris Roberts - Minneapolis

(Spark Electronic Music and Art Festival 2007
University of Minnesota - Minneapolis)

(Washington Studios - Duluth)

(Columbus College of Art & Design)

(Denver Art Museum - Denver)

(The Neutral Zone - Ann Arbor)

Beatrix*JAR Audio Releases

2011-10-13T14:48:00.003-05:00

ART*STAR

Beatrix*JAR
Hypercreatives (2010)

TRACKS
1. Action Art Star (1:03)
2. Surface Noise (3:10)
3. Thank You Jesus (2:24) - Mixed by Lance Conrad @ Human's Win! in Minneapolis
4. Mono%Momo (2:13)
5. Colour Sound Experiment (2:29)
6. Sound Is (2:16)
7. Pusher Oval (3:12)
8. Queen Beatrixx (2:39)
9. Lazer Beak Trix Jar (4:01) - Produced by LazerBeak
10. Your Superhero Power (4:15)
11. Cage*J (4:33)
12. Waking Up Next To You (2:11)
13. Electronic Birds Softly (1:56)
14. Organ Jane (1:45)

"Get ready to ride the frequencies and paint with sound, as Beatrix*JAR bends the circuits of discarded toys to release a fresh music all their own." - Minnesota Original

PRESS RELEASE
The Beatrix*JAR Art Star Disc was made available initially as 50 audio discs made by the band. The disc was released digitally on Tuesday, August 10th.

Art*Star is a three year culmination of live audio exploration recorded during the summer of 2010 and their most anticipated release since 2007’s Golden Fuzz.

Beatrix*JAR's third release is an explosive, beat driven sonic manifesto, infused with the sonic lovebirds signature golden instrumentation: AM radios + flash cameras, modified machines and unique samples.

Art*Star features two new collaborations that give an additional dimension to the already dynamic Beatrix*JAR sound. Track Number 3, “Thank You Jesus” was remixed by The Alpha Centauri’s Lance Conrad; Owner and Head Producer of the Minneapolis Recording Studio Human’s Win! Lazerbeak, the Minneapolis based production genius behind almost every Doomtree Release, steps out of the world of hip-hop production and into the world of audio abstract collage with Track Number 9 “Lazer Beak Trix Jar”.

With the release of Art*Star came the first ever Beatrix*JAR screen-printed poster designed by Jonathan Schuster at the Minneapolis screen-printing house Aesthetic Apparatus.

GOLDEN FUZZ
Beatrix*JAR
Hypercreatives (2007)

Click on the image above to order a copy of Beatrix*JAR's second cd release: Golden Fuzz. (CD Baby)

"Golden Fuzz may be the most accurate album title I’ve seen all year. It’s a shimmering mosaic of beats and samples layered with a smattering of live vocals, samples, circuit-bent toys and AM interference.” – Michael Una, Create Digital Music.

TRACKS
1. Open Lava Entropy (:55)
2. Arthur Golden (3:06)
3. Sunshine Western (2:22)
4. Golden Fuzz (2.33)
5. Afternoon Wedding Vow (2.46)
6. 123 Beatrix*JAR (2:12)
7. Abbreviated Layover (2:45)
8. Fuzzy Frequency (2:34)

PRESS RELEASE
Minneapolis, MN – Best known for touring the country spreading the good word of D.I.Y. electronics with uniquely playful performances and Circuit Bending Workshops, sonic love-birds Beatrix*JAR make a dynamic return with their highly anticipated second release: Golden Fuzz, the follow-up to the duo’s first cd release: I Love You Talk Bird (April 2006).

Surpassing their own sonic boundaries and delving deeper into the world the duo appropriately calls “Fuzzy Sound Collage”, Golden Fuzz expands on Beatrix*JAR’s non-traditional style by combining beautiful improvised moments courtesy of Bianca Pettis’s rhythmic layer of sample collage, glitched-out chance sounds summoned from Jacob Aaron Roske’s homemade modified electronics and tender reinforcing beats that bring it all together into a blissfully appropriated cohesive whimsy.

One of the most obvious differences between the duo’s first release, I Love You Talk Bird, and the more recent Golden Fuzz is the duo’s decision to leave the vocal tracks at the studio door. “There are a few tracks where we sample our own voices (Open Lava Entropy and 123 Beatrix*Jar) but we really have simplified, Golden Fuzz is all about the music.” says Beatrix*JAR member Bianca Pettis.

“Golden Fuzz is also about the frequency we tune into as Beatrix*JAR.” says member Jacob Roske (JAR). “We feel so lucky to have found each other and to be able to release our sonic expression into the world.”

The release of Golden Fuzz comes subsequent to the couples decision to turn their work as Beatrix*JAR into a full time venture. “We went on tour for the first time in August 2006 and realized that this is what we were meant to do.” says Bianca Pettis (Beatrix). “We have started to turn our focus to booking ourselves across the country doing circuit bending workshops and performances.”

The duo recently gave a Circuit Bending Workshop at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition: Soundwaves: The Art of Sampling, featuring the work of artists Sean Duffy, Christian Marclay and Celeste Boursier-Mougenot.

I LOVE YOU TALK BIRD
Beatrix*JAR
Hypercreatives (2006)

Click on the image above to order a copy of Beatrix*JAR's first release: I LOVE YOU TALK BIRD. (CD Baby)

"The Minneapolis duo approach electronic music with the notion that the future is the past, and that instrumentation is readily available at Goodwill. Their layered backing tracks depend heavily on circuit-bent keyboards—a collection of electronic Frankensteins that have been rewired and tricked out with new knobs and looping mechanisms." - Lindsey Thomas, City Pages.

“In the glitchy, garbled, sonic universe of Beatrix*Jar, anything that makes a sound can be channeled into a song.” – Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio.

TRACKS
1. Paint By Numbers
2. Spy Eye
3. Verse
4. Meany
5. P.T.R.
6. French Binaural
7. Atlast
8. Sunday Ditchers
9. Sea of Sleeves
10. Ready to Rock
11. Oral Fixation
12. Easy Monday Office
13. Talk Bird

PRESS RELEASE
Beatrix*Jar is Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR). Formed in March 2005, this charismatic sonic duo has adopted a do-it-yourself method for coaxing audio out of familiar and unfamiliar sources. Layering electronic beats, circuit bent devices and spontaneous samples the pair creates distinctly futuristic sounds with machines of the past.

Beatrix*Jar also offer Circuit-Bending Workshops at home and on the road to share their appreciation for non-traditional instruments and unintentional sounds.

BEATRIX*JAR VIDEOS

2011-10-13T14:44:00.001-05:00

Image by Brett Kallusky

Click the image above for the Beatrix*JAR Vimeo Channel! Videos galore!

CV

2011-10-13T14:06:00.008-05:00

Beatrix*JAR: Dynamic Duo
entertainers / audio artists / media artists / toy designers

BIO
Beatrix*JAR are dynamic duo and couple: Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR).

Formerly from the Twin Cities and currently based in San Diego, Pettis and Roske grew up discouraged by the limitations of traditional music pedagogy. They formed Beatrix*JAR in 2004 over a shared attraction to non-traditional musical expression and unique musical instruments.

From 2004 - 2010 Beatrix*JAR actively toured spreading the good word of D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) electronics and experimentation with over 240 conceptual sound art performances and hands-on Circuit Bending workshops. Their work has been featured at Art Museums, Night Clubs, Universities, Libraries, Hacker Spaces and Art Galleries all over the country including the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, Ohio), Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego, CA), the American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore) and the High Art Museum (Atlanta, GA) to name a few.

The duo was also featured on MAKE TV (PBS) and on ABC's Nightline and are recipients of a 2010 Archibald Bush Fellowship in Media Arts.

Beatrix*JAR self-released three albums of note: "I Love You Talk Bird"(2005), "Golden Fuzz" (2007) and Art*Star (2010).

In 2010, after a series of tragic events including a car accident in October , the duo changed the focus of their creative fellowship. They decided to slow down and take a creative sabbatical from the world of sound. This resulted in the designing of fabric plush toys.

STATEMENT
We spent most of our youth stuck in the mind-set that music must sound a certain way, that musical instruments are THIS… and if you have never been trained to play music then you have no right to be a musician or even think about making music. Approaching music in outrageous ways and circuit bending gave us a new vocabulary to express our love of music and to create a world where musical expression is not limited to just those people with formal training. We believe that anything that makes sound can be a musical instrument.

Circuit-bending is a great metaphor for our whole process. It is the process of unlocking the true voice of an electronic toy. Here is a little Speak-and-Spell, a slave to uttering the ‘right’ things at the proper time…but once we start exploring its circuitry we allow it to express crazy, often emotional sounds that defy propriety and behave unpredictably. These new voices are the crux of our compositions.

EDUCATION

Bianca Janine Pettis
North Carolina School of the Arts Pre-Professional Acting Program (1990, HS Diploma)
Antioch College - Yellow Springs, Ohio (1996: Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, Minor Photography)

Jacob Aaron Roske
Sound Arts AA at Minneapolis Community and Technical College - Minneapolis (2003)
Video Arts AA at Minneapolis Community and Technical College - Minneapolis (2004)

GRANTS / AWARDS

Archibald Bush Fellowship in Media Arts, Minnesota (2010)

MN American Composers Forum Subito Grant: For support of a Beatrix*JAR Southern Tour in January 2009 that included the High Art Museum in Atlanta and the Telfair Art Museum in Savannah, GA. (2009)

MetLife Creative Connections: Meet the Composer Grant: Organizational support from the Erie Art Museum, Erie PA. Completed a weeklong residency @ the Erie Art Museum culminating in an opening performance for the Erie Art Museum Jazz and Blues Festival. (2008)

CURATORS

Minneapolis Bent Festival @ Intermedia Arts – Minneapolis, MN (2009)
The Bent Festival is an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit bending. Each year we invite artists from across the country and around the globe to perform music with their home-made or circuit bent instruments, teach workshops to adults and children alike, create beautiful art installations and to generally come together, face to face, and showcase the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit bending culture.

Special Category: Found Sound and Audio Appropriation (2008)
Spark Electronic Music and Arts Festival, University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, MN
A call and performance by artists who appropriate devices and sounds different from the intended use, this includes sound collage, found sounds, video games, circuit bending & D.I.Y. electronics.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

2011

New performance piece: B. Luxx & J. Starr @ REDCAT Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
Creative Sabbatical

2005 - 2010: Beatrix*JAR "Sound Art Duo" Active Years
W: Indicates Workshop
P: Indicates Performance
D: Indicates Demonstration

2010
California Tour
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in conjunction with the Tara Donovan Exhibit (WP)
UCLA Art Happening @ The Hammer Museum - Los Angeles (WP)
Echo Park Film Center - Los Angeles (WP)
Noisebridge - San Francisco (WP)

The Rest
Third Thursday Art Remix: Minneapolis Institute of the Arts (P)
Bush Fellowship Performance @ the Armitage Room - Minneapolis
Beatrix*JAR After Party @ Clubhouse Jager – Minneapolis (P)
McNally Smith Sound Crawl in conjunction with the St. Paul Art Crawl (P)
Science Museum of Minnesota @ the Learning Technologies Center - St. Paul(W)
Flashbelt Conference After Party @ Nomad Pub, Minneapolis (P)
Beatrix*JAR Art*Star Limited Audio Disc Release @ Clubhouse Jager - Minneapolis (P)

Café Maude - Minneapolis Electronic Circuit Bent Improv and DJ Set (P)
Sauce Minneapolis (P)
Whole Music Club with Lookbook – Minneapolis (P)
Clubhouse Jaeger - Minneapolis (P)
Aesthetic Apparatus 11 Year Anniversary Party In Store Performance - Minneapolis (P)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)

2009
Walker Art Center - James Turrell’s Sky Pesher Installation (P)
Indianapolis Museum of Art - Beatrix*JAR @ The Toby - Indianapolis, IN (P)
Spark Electronic Music and Art Festival, University of MN - Minneapolis, MN (P)
Sound Design for Bedlam Theatre's Million Dollar Museum (Sound Design)
Bedlam Theatre - Million Dollar Museum Opening Party (P)
North Regional Library, Minneapolis (W)
Pierre Bottineau Library, Minneapolis (W)
Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries - Wright State University (W)
C-Space presented by the Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries @ Wright State University (P)
Columbia Museum of Art in conjunction with Cleve Gray Exhibit - Columbia, SC (WP)
St. Louis Park Library, St. Louis Park, MN (W)
Wayzata Library, Wayzata, MN (W)
Ingenuity Festival featured artists - Cleveland, OH (PDD)
Oxboro Library, Minneapolis, MN (W)
Station 4, St. Paul, MN - Opening for MUCCA PAZZA (P)
North Regional Library, Minneapolis, MN (W)
Walker Library - Minneapolis, MN (W)
Brookdale Library - Brooklyn Center, MN (W)
Hayden Heights Library - St. Paul, MN (W)
Dakota County Wescott Library - Eagan, MN (W)
Ridgedale Library - Minnetonka, MN (W)
Roosevelt Community Library - Minneapolis, MN (W)
Washburn Library - Minneapolis, MN (W)
East Lake Library - Minneapolis, MN (W)
Clubhouse Jager - Minneapolis, MN (P)
Franklin Art Works in conjunction with the Chris Baker Exhibit - Minneapolis (W)
NYE Show @ Sauce - Minneapolis (P)
FINELINE: The Arrest CD Release with Greycoats and Small Cities - Minneapolis, MN (P)

Midway Contemporary Art, MY TOKYO 5th Annual Benefit Art Auction - Minneapolis, MN (P)

Private Class - Sound Art @ University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (W)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis, MN (P)
Milwaukee College of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI (W)
Discovery World Science Center – Milwaukee, WI (P)
Kitty Cat Klub with Solid Gold, Minneapolis, MN (P)
The Cave @ Carleton College, Northfield, MN (WP)
St. Olaf College – Northfield, MN (WP)
Café Maude, Minneapolis (DJ + Show)
Kaleidoscope Charter School (Student Assembly)

Southern Tour funded in part by an American Composers Forum Subito Grant
High Art Museum - Atlanta, GA (WP)
Hunter Museum of American Art - Chattanooga, TN (W)
Eyedrum - Atlanta, GA, Wonderroot – Atlanta, GA (W)
New Music Collective @ University of South Carolina – Charleston, SC (WP)
Columbus State University: Art Department – Columbus, GA (WP)
Telfair Museum of Art|| PULSE: Art and Technology Festival – Savannah, GA (WP)

2008
Andy Warhol Museum - Pittsburgh, PA (WP)
Minneapolis Bent Festival - Minneapolis (P)
The ARTS at Mark's Garage - Honolulu (P)
Ong King - Honolulu (W)
Wexner Center for the Arts Residency - Columbus, Ohio
Wex Lab: Toy Tones for Educators(W), Gen Wex Presents Circuit Benders (W), Young Arts "Noisy Toys"(W), Wex Lab Performance (P)
Akron Art Museum - Third Thursdays Concert and Cocktails with Beatrix*JAR: Akron (P)
Special Everyday Art: Circuit Bending with Beatrix*JAR: Akron, Ohio (W)
FLUX:BASH Rochester Art Center Fundraiser After Party - Rochester, MN (P)
Erie Art Museum (W)
Erie Art Museum Blues and Jazz Festival (P)
Walker Art Center Culture Camp - Minneapolis (W/P)
Fine Line Music Cafe - A.M.P. - Art Music Party - Minneapolis (P)
Turf Club with Military Special, Ultra Chorus and DJ Real Talk Radio - St. Paul
Rice Street Library - St. Paul (W)
Dayton’s Bluff Library - St. Paul (W)
NYE Show & MC/VL Tour Kickoff Show - Big V's - St. Paul (P)
Bakken Museum of Electricity in Life - Minneapolis (D)
7th Street Entry with Jeans Team and the Shout Out Out Out Outs - Minneapolis (P)
Whole Music Club @ U of M with Baby Teeth and Ruby Isle - Minneapolis (P)
Big V’s with Pezzettino - St. Paul (P)
7th Street Entry with the Black Kids and Virgins - Minneapolis (P)
801 Lofts Pilot Art Group Opening - Minneapolis (P)
Merriam Park Library - St. Paul (W)
Pi Bar with Dance Band - Minneapolis (P)
Minneapolis College of Art and Design - Minneapolis (W)
Plains Art Museum: Listening Integrated Visual Experience (L.I.V.E.) Fargo, ND (WP)
Kitty Cat Klub with Athletes in Slacks (P)
Clubhouse Jager End of Summer Bash (P)
Drinking with Ian Season Special "Celebrity" Guests on Season Premiere @ First Avenue Mainroom - Minneapolis (D)
Sun Ray Library - Saint Paul (W)
St. Paul Central Library - St. Paul (W)
7th Street Entry with Nomo and Solid Gold - Minneapolis (P)
Jitters: Collage Party and DJ Set - Minneapolis (P)
Bedlam Theatre: Riot Act Reading Series - Minneapolis (P)
Rondo Library: Community Technology Fair - St. Paul (D)
Unconvention: A Response to the Republican National Convention - Minneapolis (P)
Convergence - Bloomington (W)
Blacklist Vintage - Minneapolis (P)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)
Erie Art Museum (W/P)
Arlington Hills Library - Minneapolis (W)
Clubhouse Jager - Minneapolis (P)
Rondo Library - Saint Paul (W)
Turf Club - Saint Paul (P)
Lee's Liquor Lounge - Minneapolis, MN (P)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis, MN (P)
University of Houston Red Block Bash - Houston (WP)
801 Washington Lofts Gallery Opening - Minneapolis (P)
Franklin Library - Minneapolis (W)
March 2008 “Teen Technology Month Residency at Minneapolis & St. Paul Public Libraries
Augsburg Park Library, Richfield, MN (W)
St. Louis Park Library - St. Louis Park, MN (W)
Dakota County Library – Wescott, Eagan, MN (W)
Brookdale Library, Brooklyn Center, MN (W)
Sun Ray Library, St. Paul, MN (W)
Minnetonka Library - Minnetonka, MN (W)
Southdale Library - Edina, MN (W)
Golden Valley Library - Golden Valley, MN (W)
Urban Ventures – Minneapolis, MN (W)
Westonka Library - Mound, MN (W)
Saint Anthony Library - Saint Anthony, MN (W)

The Rest
University of Minnesota Women in Technology Phase One (W)
Strange Attractors Festival - Metro State, St. Paul, MN (WP)
Ghost in the Water CD Release Show – Kitty Cat Klub, Minneapolis (P)
Kenyon College – Gambier, Ohio (P)
Mardi Gras Party Uptown Bar, Minneapolis (P)
Circuit Bending Workshop for Couples - CAL Lofts, Minneapolis (W)
First Amendment Arts – Gallery Opening, Minneapolis (P)
Spark Festival of Electronic Music & Art Opening Night Performance @ University of Minnesota - Minneapolis (P)
University of Minnesota: Audio Technology and Electronics Club (W)
Spark Festival of Electronic Music & Art Closing Night Party (P)
Clubhouse Jager, Minneapolis (P), 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (P)
Kitty Cat Klub, Minneapolis (P)

2007
Wexner Art Center - Columbus (W)
American Visionary Art Museum - Baltimore (WP)
Milwaukee College of Art and Design - Milwaukee (W)
Madison Pop Fest @ the University of Wisconsin - Madison (WP)
Walker Art Center - Minneapolis (P)
Walker Art Center: Festival of Appropriation - Minneapolis (WP)
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (WP)
Santa Monica Museum of Art - Santa Monica (WP)
Denver Art Museum - Denver (WP)
Erie Art Museum - Erie PA (WP: Residency)
Netural Zone - Ann Arbor (W)
Spark Electronic Art and Music Festival @ University of Minnesota - Minneapolis (W)
Ann Arbor Art Center - Ann Arbor Michigan (P)
Art Auction Benefit for Leonardo’s Basement - Minneapolis (P)
Minnesota Fringe Festival Closing Party @ First Avenue Mainroom - Minneapolis (P)
CONvergence Science Fiction Festival - Bloomington, MN (P)
Twin Cities Zine Fest - Minneapolis (P)
Rake Magazine 10,000 Arts Crawl @ Ligne Roset, Minneapolis (P)
Doomtree Blowout - First Avenue Mainroom, Minneapolis (P)
Intermedia Arts - Minneapolis (P)
Stasiu’s - Minneapolis (P)
University of Minnesota Sound Art Class - Minneapolis (W)
Beatrix*JAR CD Release Party @ Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)
7th Street Entry with The Octopus Project - Minneapolis (P)
Station 4 - St. Paul (P)
Lees Liquor Lounge - Minneapolis (P)
Lo Fi Festival - Iowa City (P)
First Avenue Main Room - Minneapolis (P)
Drinking with Ian Episode Beatrix*JAR Musical Guest Stars - Minneapolis (P)
Westonka Library, Mound MN (W)
7th Street Entry Bat for Lashes openers - Minneapolis (P)
Café Montmarte - Madison (PW)
Stone Arch Festival - Minneapolis (P)
Club Underground - Minneapolis (P)
Clubhouse Jager - Minneapolis (P)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)
Clubhouse Jager - Minneapolis (P)
Minnesota Museum of American Art - St. Paul (P)
Minneapolis College of Art and Design - Minneapolis (W)
Bent Festival - Minneapolis (WP)
Science Museum of Minnesota - St. Paul (P)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)
Parish Hall - Cleveland (WP)
Skull Lab - Cincinatti Ohio (P)
Altered Asthetics - Minneapolis (W)
Nomad Pub - Minneapolis (P)
Leonardo’s Basement - Minneapolis (W)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)
Hotcakes Gallery - Milwaukee (W)
Ronny’s - Chicago (P)
Contemporary Art Institute - Detroit (P)
Columbus College of Art & Design - Columbus Ohio (W)
Café Burbon Street, Columbus Ohio (P)
Bryant Lake Bowl, Minneapolis (P)

2006
First Tour
Hotcakes Gallery - Milwaukee (WP)
Super Happy Funland - Houston (WP)
High Mayhem - Santa Fe (WP)
Trunk Space - Phoenix (WP)
Il Corral - Los Angeles (P)
The Mighty - San Francisco (P)
Zeum - San Francisco (W)
The Rest
Bent Festival - NYC (P)
Washington Studios - Duluth (W)
Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)
Art of This Gallery - Minneapolis (P)
Arcadia - Minneapolis (P)
7th Street Entry - Minneapolis (P)
Whole Music Club - Minneapolis (P)
Minnesota Museum of American Art - St. Paul (P)
331 Club - Minneapolis (P)
Road Runner Records - Minneapolis (P)
Terminal Bar - Minneapolis (P)
Varisty Theatre - Minneapolis (P)
Art of This Gallery - Minneapolis (P)
Fine Line Music Café - Minneapolis (P)
Bryant Lake Bowl - Minneapolis (P)
Dinkytowner - Minneapolis (P)
Station 4 - Minneapolis (P)
Club Underground - Minneapolis (P)

2005
Patrick's Cabaret - Minneapolis (P)
Hexagon Bar - Minneapolis (P)
Minneapolis Community and Technical College - Minneapolis (D)
Minneapolis College of Art and Design (W)

2004
The JAR Years

Theater De La Jeune Lune (P)

Rogue Buddha Gallery (P)

Fine Line Cafe (P)

7th Street Entry (P)

Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis (P)

BIRD UPDATES

2011-10-11T10:56:00.004-05:00

Hello Beatrix*JAR Friends!

We've sold and given away flocks of our little handmade birds to our fans and friends over the years. We'd love to hear follow-up stories and see photos of the birdies.

Where have they ended up?

Any good stories?

Are they still holding up?

Drop us a line at: beatrixjar@beatrixjar.com

We'd love to hear from you and see cool images of our old friends!

Midwest Emmy Nominated!

2011-09-14T08:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we heard our work appears in a Midwest Emmy Nominated episode of MN Original!

Here's a preview of the episode: MN Original: A Legacy Celebration.

The episode features over 100 MN artists who have appeared on the show MN Original. Congratulations to the other featured/nominated artists! Minnesota is truly a special place! We are very grateful to be from such a unique & creative state!

Beatrix*JAR Handmade!

2011-09-04T11:14:00.009-05:00

We've just started a new blog / shop called Beatrix*JAR Handmade

We're very excited about it! We're working on getting our shop streamlined behind the scenes. For now though - we're making stuff and posting fantastic birds and cats and all things handmade from the world of Beatrix*JAR!

Click the image or link above to visit the site.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 31

2011-04-01T18:49:00.004-05:00

THE END

We did it!

We spent the last 31 days looking back at all we've done - first as solo artists then together as Beatrix*JAR.

It was very moving for us to take a look back on all the places we've been and all the work that we created.

What a wonderful journey through sound!

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 31: The End by beatrixjars

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 31

2011-03-31T12:03:00.006-05:00

LAST ROUND OF WORKSHOPS

In January 2010 we headed out on the road one last time in the name of Circuit Bending Workshops. Our stops were:

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in conjunction with the Tara Donovan Exhibit
UCLA Art Happening @ the Hammer Museum, LA
Echo Park Film Center, L.A.
Noisebridge, San Francisco

Click on the image above to view a FACEBOOK photo album of our January 2010 trip to California.

Here is a slideshow from the Hammer, photos by Reed Hutchinson & Visuals by OICHO

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART - ROUND TWO

January 2010 marked our second visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. We learned when we arrived that the museum's Teen Council had selected Beatrix*JAR for the visit.

Awww! Smiling.

While we were hosting the workshop we were interviewed by Eduardo Navas for his blog Remix Theory. Click on the image below for a link to that interview and video. Enjoy!

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 30

2011-03-28T23:36:00.005-05:00

MAKER TO MAKER

When Make TV was in it's very stages we helped out by performing in a Circuit Bending "Funder Reel". Nothing ever came of our work until 2008 when we were invited to do a soldering video the Maker to Maker segment of the show. The episode aired in 2009.

The crew came to our space in St. Paul to shoot it....

Here's the video!

Here's a series of images from our experiences with Make TV.

Click on the image above to view a FACEBOOK photo album.

INGENUITY FESTIVAL

The heart of rock and roll is still beating and from what we've seen - we believe um! (ha ha!)

In 2009 we were invited to do our thing at the Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland. The event was quit amazing - ambitious. The organizers filled the downtown streets, theatres, unused... stores and storefronts - theatre lobbies - museum you name it - of Cleveland with art, music and performances - and much more.

Click the image above to view a FACEBOOK photo album.

MILLION DOLLAR MUSEUM

In 2009 we signed up to do sound design for the play Million Dollar Museum at Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis. What a trip! Smiling!

The play was written by Josef Evans and directed by Maren Ward.

This was our first venture into sound design - and in retrospect we really enjoyed it! We created samples using our modified machines, we searched our audio samples and used our own voices.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 29

2011-03-28T23:27:00.021-05:00

LAZERBEAK

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 29: lazer beak trix jar by Beatrix*JAR

One afternoon we invited Lazerbeak - one of the 7 members of the Doomtree Collective - to our house to make a track. He brought over his MPC-2000 and worked out this track with some of our favorite sounds.

Here is what you hear:

Ennio Morricone
Gold Toy
A 70's Commercial (Let Go)
Hot Lyxx Guitar

Enjoy!

CIRCUIT BENDING IS RAINBOW HIGH FIVE EXPLOSION!

Click on image below to link to mn daily article:

SOUTHERN TOUR

We received an American Composers Forum Subito Grant to complete a Southern Tour in January 2009. What that meant for us was winter sun and circuit bending in the south.

24th - High Art Museum - Atlanta, GA (WP)
25th - Hunter Museum of American Art - Chattanooga, TN (W)
26th - Eyedrum - Atlanta, GA (P)
27th - Wonderroot – Atlanta, GA (W)
28th - New Music Collective @ University of South Carolina – Charleston, SC (WP)
29th - Columbus State University: Art Department – Columbus, GA (WP)
31st -Telfair Museum of Art PULSE: Art and Technology Festival – Savannah, GA (WP)

ARTICLES: click on image to link to article

PULSE pushes the boundaries of new media from Connect Savannah

Beatrix*Jar Present Unique Workshop and Concert Wednesday

from Charleston City Paper

Art, technology and wild electronica from Savannah Now

SOUTHERN TOUR IMAGES

Click on the image below to connect to a FACEBOOK photo album of images.

INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART

In 2009 we did a performance at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in the Tobias Theatre.

Click on the image below to read an article from our visit. The article was written by Nuvo, Indy's Alternative Paper.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 28

2011-03-28T10:41:00.004-05:00

"This was an absolutely unforgettable experience. I’m so glad they not only shared their music and talent with us, but also reminded everyone that you don’t have to look too far to create a sound all your own." - Beth Drozdik, intern @ Akron Art Museum 2008

AKRON ART MUSEUM

Click on the image above to see images from Beatrix*JAR's visit to the Akron Art Museum.

The BUCHTELITE

"On Thursday Nov. 20 the Akron Art Museum will host a night of new sound that will change your idea of music forever." - Sarah Carter

Here's a 2008 article about Beatrix*JAR from the University of Akron's Student Newspaper: The Buchtelite. Click on the image below to read the article.

THE ARTISTS REALITY

Here's a video we shot in Akron for the Artists Reality 48 webcast. Pretty quirky!

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 27

2011-03-27T11:49:00.004-05:00

Return of the Box

Return of the Box is a video we shot @ our St. Paul Studio.

The green we chose for our living room wall made the perfect green screen - so we shot ourselves against it reacting to the circuit board. Laughing!

It's a total DIY project - no budget or special effects...just Jacob, Bianca and ...the camera.

We had a great time making it.

Enjoy Return of the Box.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 26

2011-03-27T10:42:00.018-05:00

Walker Art Center Culture Camp

Soon after our visit to the Erie Art Museum - we were back in Minneapolis at the Walker Art Center leading a Sound Art Culture Camp. We led kids through a series of sound experiments/activities at the Walker Art Center. Highlights included a sound scavenger hunt, circuit bending workshop with recycled kids' toys and show and tell at the end of each class.

Click on the image below to see more photos from culture camp.

We opened for Solid Gold and Nomo at the 7th street entry

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 25

2011-03-24T20:11:00.011-05:00

ERIE ART MUSEUM - SECOND VISIT

Soon after returning from Hawaii we were on the road again, this time to visit the Erie Art Museum for a five day residency funded in part by the Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program.

Here is a commercial that played in the city promoting our visit.

Here is an excerpt from an radio interview we did with Rob Hoff of Jazz Flight

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Residency Day 25: Rob Hoff & Jazz Flight (excerpt) by beatrixjars

Click on image below and link to Meet The Composer's Met Life Creative Connections program

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 24

2011-03-24T12:00:00.005-05:00

HAWAII

Click on the picture below to read an article about our visit to beautiful Hawaii - May 2008 - just weeks after the 2008 Minneapolis Bent Festival.

Click on the picture below to read an article "Duo create fuzzy sound collage" about our visit to beautiful Hawaii - May 2008

Here is a video our friend Ryan Ozawa shot with his iphone during our visit and circuit bending workshop hosted by the Hawaii Macintosh and Apple Users Society (HMAUS).

Beatrix*JAR in Hawaii from hawaii on Vimeo.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 23

2011-03-22T20:20:00.021-05:00

MINNEAPOLIS BENT FESTIVAL 2008

We attended our first Bent Festival in NYC in 2006.

2007 Bent Festival was held in LA, NYC & Minneapolis. It was put together by the TANK & Intermedia Arts hosted.

2008 Bent Festival as held in LA, NYC and MPLS. Run by the TANK. Intermedia Arts hosted. AND Beatrix*JAR got to help out by CURATING it!

Get Bent @ The Bent Festival, 2008 City Pages Article click image below:

Utne Reader The solid State of Circuit Bending click image below:

Nick Vicek City Pages slide show click image below:

Beatrix*JAR performance @ Minneapolis Bent 2008

Here is a 2008 Bent Festival Documentary shot by Derek Sajabal, aka Dr. Rek.

Bent 2008 mpls DVD trailer 1 from Derek Sajbel on Vimeo.

BENT PROGRAM

The Bent Festival is an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit bending. Each year we invite artists from across the country and around the globe to perform music with their home-made or circuit bent instruments, teach workshops to adults and children alike, create beautiful art installations and to generally come together, face to face, and showcase the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit bending culture.

If you have the least bit of curiosity about electronics or electronic music, or if you've ever just wanted to rip your toys apart, this festival is for you. Each day we will have open studios with expert circuit benders and hardware hackers on hand to help you get started. There will be installation artists building circuit-bent artwork throughout the space. There will be a full schedule of in-depth workshops. There will be nightly concerts featuring some of the best circuit benders and DIY electronics performers in the world. It is pure unadulterated fun for the whole family. You will have a blast.

MINNEAPOLIS BENT FESTIVAL LINE-UP

THURSDAY MAY 1
7pm - Bent Festival Reception / Art Opening / Listening Party (Lobby)

ART INSTALLATIONS
Jason Wihlem – INT_Routine, Milwaukee
Raul Gshrey – Cases, Germany
Mike Una – Beat and Bleep Bike, Chicago

8pm - BENT FESTIVAL CONCERTS
Datura 1.0 – Minneapolis
Igloo Martian – Wisconsin
Caly McMorrow – Minneapolis
Brian McKenna – Zero Bit Video, Amsterdam
EraSer – Italy
Beatrix*JAR - Minneapolis

FRIDAY MAY 2
7pm Highly Liquid Workshop

8pm - BENT FESTIVAL CONCERTS
Ronald J. Schleper – Denver
Life as Number Five – Wisconsin
Talking Computron – Iowa
Sounds Happy – Chicago
Circuit Ben – UK
Loud Objects - NYC

SATURDAY MAY 3 – AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

11:00pm - 1:00pm
INTRODUCTION TO CIRCUIT BENDING – Intermedia Arts Theatre
Beatrix*JAR & DJ Dan Demchuck
A great opportunity for kids of all ages to learn circuit bending! Bring an old battery powered electronic toy that makes noise to work on.

1:00pm – 3:00pm
555 TIMER APPLICATIONS WORKSHOP - Intermedia Arts Theatre
Mike Una and Alex Dyba (getlofi.com)
$3.00 Supply Cost / (Bring a Toy to modify).
Learn how a simple 555 timer circuit can open up a world of opportunities, like pitching down unbendable toys and adding a tremolo like effect on pitch resistors. During the workshop we will show you how to create a Theremin like synth and use 555's square-wave oscillations for injecting into the data lines to create randomness and glitches.

3pm – 4:30pm
ANALOG SENSOR DEVICES - Intermedia Arts Theatre
A Lecture with Mike Taylor
This workshop covers the basics of building and working with analog sensor devices. It will also cover the basics of physical computing by looking at some inexpensive ways to interface sensors with computers. I/O platforms will include the Arduino and CreateUSB interfaces. We will also look at software like PD, Max/MSP, Jitter, and Processing. After an overview of the basic hardware and software, the workshop will cover building basic sensors and the electronics theory for analog signal conditioning. We will look at resistive voltage dividers and direct voltage output types of sensors. I will demonstrate my 3D accelerometer ball, magnetic shaker ball, 3D light sensor, and a really easy to build ribbon controller. If time permits we will also look at some software programming for computer interfacing.

3:00pm - 5:00pm
CIRCUIT BENDING DRUM MACHINES - Intermedia Arts Library
Ron Schelper
Class Limited to 15
Learn how to creatively modify your 1980's PCM and analog drum machines. Some of the best rhythmic noise can be had from the Yamaha RX series and DD series, Roland TR series, Alesis HR and SR series, and Kawai R-50 as well as many kids toy drums. A brief primer on digital logic and analog circuits will be offered, and detailed instructions on my personal favorites, the Yamaha RX-17 and Roland TR-505, as well as instructions for other models as needed.

5:00pm – 7pm BENT BARBECUE

8pm - BENT FESTIVAL CONCERTS
Crème De Menthia – Illinois
Memory Selector – Minneapolis/Chicago
Albino Ghost Monkey - WI
Tim Kaiser – Duluth
DJ Tendraw - UK
Dr. Rek – Japan

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22

2011-03-22T12:23:00.013-05:00

WEXNER ART CENTER TOY TUNES

Back by Popular Demand!

The Wexner Art Center hosted Beatrix*JAR for a "Toy Tunes" residency in April 2008. The Wexner offered Circuit Bending Workshops in several different packages targeting different demographics with their different titles and descriptions.

Beatrix* Jar led a teen program last year, and the response was so great that we’ve brought them back and added workshops for all ages. Choose the one that’s right for you!

RAW SOUNDS

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22: CasioMT540 by beatrixjars

CASIOMT540

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22: Speak & Read by beatrixjars

SPEAK & READ

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22: Speak & Math by beatrixjars

SPEAK & MATH

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22:stylophone-bass by beatrixjars

STYLOPHONE BASS

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22: Gold Toy by beatrixjars

GOLD TOY

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22: Animal Organ by beatrixjars

ANIMAL ORGAN

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 22: AM Radio by beatrixjars

AM RADIO

BLAFFER + WEXNER

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 21

2011-03-21T10:55:00.003-05:00

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO

In October 2007 we were invited to do our work @ the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. We were featured in conjunction with the Soundwaves Exhibit which featured works by Christian Marclay and Jean-Pierre Gauthier.

Here is a set of professional images taken by San Diego photographer Terri Rippee.

Click on the image above to view the photos.

FRIENDS OVERSEAS - LIVE

Here is a wonderful unreleased track from Beatrix*JAR circa 2007. Friends Overseas is a sonic collage of circuit bent keyboards and sampled voices from our Walker Art Center Culutre Camp students performing a countdown and speaking backwards.

Click on the image above to hear the track!

MCASD Part 2

MCASD was the first institution to fly us anywhere. That was a really big deal for us at the time!

The museum hosts a really fun monthly event called TNT. The October 2007 TNT featured a fashion show, a performance by Tijuana video/sound artists PR4gma and a Beatrix*JAR show.

Here are some of our personal images from that event.

Click on image above to view photo album.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 20

2011-03-20T00:34:00.010-05:00

SUNDAY

Happy Solstice!

Here are a couple of Sunday tracks.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 20: Sunday Ditchers by Beatrix*JAR

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 20: Thank you Jesus by Beatrix*JAR

ANDY WARHOL

Would Andy Warhol be into Circuit Benders? We think so. We can hear him: "They play these broken toys, it's very psychedelic". Did that sound like Warhol? Ha ha.

Anyway, a big dream come true for us was to be booked at the Andy Warhol Museum. We were invited to teach a workshop at the CAPA School and do a performance later that night at the actual museum. Here's some information about our visit.

PITTSBURGH

"The roots of the circuit-bending Minneapolis electronics duo's style stretch far back, from 1950s musique concrete to Kraftwerk's "Numbers," from Negativland and MC 900 Foot Jesus to today's mash-up artists, such as Girl Talk." - Manny Theiner, Pittsburgh City Paper

Click on image above to read the article.

THE WARHOL RESOURCES AND LESSONS

We have to admit (it is retrospect after all) we were in a bit over our own heads at this point in the game. We were driving ourselves to venues cross country, doing interviews, workshops, shows, rehearsing and trying to maintain our health and happiness.

While our visit to the Warhol was a dream come true, we arrived in Pittsburgh at 4am, got a few hours of sleep and walked down to the museum for an early morning workshop at the high school. We were irritable, unprepared and uninspired. But we tried...lord knows we tried.

Click on the image above to read the interview.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 19

2011-03-19T09:12:00.003-05:00

GOLDEN FUZZ EP

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 19: Golden Fuzz EP

It's Day 19 of our Sound Art Retrospective!! Happy Super Moon!

In October 2007 we recorded Golden Fuzz together in our St. Paul Studio. We locked ourselves away and worked on tracks together morning and night. We mastered, composed and performed all of the tracks and borrowed samples from this and that.

Enjoy Golden Fuzz:

Inside Cover

Back of disc.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 19: Golden Fuzz EP by Beatrix*JAR

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 18

2011-03-18T12:43:00.005-05:00

GOLDEN FUZZ

"Golden Fuzz may be the most accurate album title I’ve seen all year".
-Michael Una

Back in 2007 we released our second cd called Golden Fuzz and got to meet and give an interview with our friend Michael Una for Create Digital Music.

Click on the image above to read the review.

EMILY UTNE

Here is an amazing photo shoot circa 2007 we had with Minneapolis photographer Emily Utne for the City Pages article Circuits Berzerkus.

Click on image above to view the pictures.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 17

2011-03-16T21:40:00.011-05:00

DAY SEVENTEEN!

Happy Day Seventeen. Here's a live Beatrix*JAR track called Made in China. Enjoy!

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 17: made in china (live) by Beatrix*JAR

FESTIVAL OF APPROPRIATION - 2007

In November 2007 performed and gave a Circuit Bending Workshop @ the Festival of Appropriation.

THE FESTIVAL OF APPROPRIATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN FOCUSED, quite simply, on artists who use bits and pieces of previously existing images, objects, and sounds to create new and compelling works of art. It’s the visual counterpart to my sample-based music and audio art show, Some Assembly Required. " - Jon Nelson, Some Assembly Required

Curated by Jon Nelson of Some Assembly Required and Kate Iverson of Letoile Magazine.

This month long event was held in November 2007 and brought together collage, assemblage and mixed media artists, working with two and three dimensional visual collage and assemblage, along with works of audio and video collage, to celebrate the art of appropriation.

The event will featured an exhibition at The Soap Factory, a film screening and an art lab at The Walker Art Center, as well as a special curated feature on mnartists.org website and in November’s Access+ENGAGE e-magazine, focusing on the art of appropriation.

We participated in the festival by giving a workshop at the Walker Art Center in the Star Tribune Art Lab. We also hosted a CD Release Party at the Kitty Cat Klub in conjunction with the event. The party featured Ghostband, and DJ Bach.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 16

2011-03-16T13:44:00.004-05:00

YOUNG AUDIENCES OF MINNESOTA

In 2007 we started offering Circuit Bending Workshops through Young Audiences of Minnesota. The organization booked us at local libraries and schools all in the name of "Circuit Bending".

It was fun to introduce sound art and circuit bending to students who never had heard of the art form. YA workshops always presented us with unique challenges but we always walked away with new insights.

Sometimes we would arrive at a venue and we would just have to go with it! We tried Circuit Bending with this after school program but they were more interested in making their own sounds with our machines.

Click on link above to view images from a Beatrix*JAR workshop at the Spark Center for the Arts.

Here are a few more images from the Circuit Bending Workshops we gave at Minnesota Public Libraries on behalf of Young Audiences Minnesota. All images are circa 2007/2008.

Click on image above to view more images.

SEA OF SLEEVES

(Here's a little ditty from Talk Bird)

I am drowning in a sea of sleeves.
Will he maintain his laundry?
I am truly in a sea of loose leaf.
Send out a verse to save my poetry.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 16: Sea Of Sleeves by Beatrix*JAR

FUZZY FREQUENCY

We were always looking and listening to samples and video clips for inspiration and ideas. Here is some footage we found and edited together. This version of Fuzzy Frequency is a musical roadmap, then we play live sounds on top as another layer during our performances. Fuzzy Frequency is the last track on our second CD "Golden Fuzz".

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 15

2011-03-15T10:23:00.003-05:00

BEATRIX*JAR @ LOFI-FESTIVAL 2007

LoFi-Festival was and Experimental Electronic/Circuit Bending/Noisecore Festival organized by Circuit Master of the site: getlofi.com. The festival was held at the Hall Mall in Downtown Iowa City. Many of the people we met at the 2007 Minneapolis Bent Festival came together for this event.

Here's a video of the set we played. Enjoy!

LoFi-Fest 2007 Information from getlofi.com

LoFi-Fest 2007, Sept 15th.
Attention Dear Readers! For the past Month I’ve been gearing up for an Experimental Electronic/Circuit Bending/Noisecore Festival at the Hall Mall in Downtown Iowa City. It is looking to be a good old time.

The Line Up includes:
Igloo Martian- WI
Talking Computron- IA
Creme Dementia- IL
Spunky Toofers- MO
Datura 1.0- MN
Beatrix*Jar – MN
FoodTeam – MN

Play times: (Roughly, may change)
8:30PM – Creme Dementia
9:15 PM – Igloo Martian
10:00 PM – Spunky Toofers
10:45 PM – Datura 1.0
11:45 PM – Beatrix*Jar
12:45 AM – FOODTEAM
1:45 AM – Talking Computron

There will be T-Shirts and Circuit Bending Compilations from Tiger Claw Records. Computer Visualization system and a top-end Stereo PA!

Cost: is $6 All ages, must be 21+ to drink w/ID. BYOB.
Location: Hall Mall, Downtown Iowa City.
Time: Doors 8:00 PM
Website: http://myspace.com/lofifest
Location Roughly: Google Maps Link

After the show I’m hoping to blog more frequently. Thanks for still reading this and hope to see some of you there.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 14

2011-03-14T11:37:00.006-05:00

DRINKING WITH IAN

"The best ***damn band on Drinking with Ian to utilize a speak n spell."
- Ian, host of Drinking with Ian.

Aw! Our favorite Minneapolis public access talk show! You know the story:
Boy meets Beer. Boy drinks beer on camera with friends.

Here's an episode of Drinking with Ian that featured Beatrix*JAR! Check out the whole episode (funny!) or cut to B*J @ 24:22. The sound is soft, but the visuals are incredible!

The show was filmed at the First Avenue Main Room on August 10, 2007

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Click on the image above to read a 2007 interview from Some Assembly Required.

In this interview we talk about a special moment at the Erie Art Museum. We invited a student to play a song on our circuit bent Casio keyboard. She chose Three Blind Mice. She tapped out the song robotically - from memory. Then we asked her to play it again - flipping a toggle switch on the keyboard to change the sounds...

DENVER ART MUSEUM

Click on image to view professional photos of Beatrix*JAR @ The Denver Art Museum: Untitled #8 Party. By Doug Beam, September 2007

2007 was a busy year for us! We got the opportunity to travel quite a bit! We did a performance and workshop at the Denver Art Museum for their event/art party called: Untitled #8.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 13

2011-03-13T14:13:00.005-05:00

2007 BENT FESTIVAL MINNEAPOLIS

Beatrix*JAR @ 2007 Minneapolis Bent Festival

In 2006 we attended the Bent Festival in New York! Imagine our excitement when the Bent Festival came to Minneapolis! Here's a live Beatrix*JAR performance from the festival which was hosted by Intermedia Arts.

Get Bent: Circuit Bending at the Bent Festival

By Jessica Armbruster, Thu., Apr. 19 2007 @ 1:45PM

Circuit bending is the art of creating new sounds and effects by manipulating the innards of low-voltage gadgets such as children's toys and cheap synthesizers. On its way from Los Angeles to New York City, the Bent Festival makes a pit stop this weekend in Minneapolis to celebrate this quirky art; events include live performances and demonstrations, art installations, and workshops for beginners as well as advanced enthusiasts. City Pages took a moment to chat with circuit-bending enthusiasts Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske, who together make up the local sound art group Beatrix*JAR.

City Pages: So how did you get into circuit bending?

Jacob: I learned from Ryan Olcott [of 12 Rods and Mystery Palace] one Sunday afternoon about four years ago. I was instantly hooked because you don't have to have any technical skills or even know what you are doing. Circuit bending allows you to have an amazing sonic experience housing new sounds in an old machine with an on/off switch.

Bianca: I learned from JAR about three years ago. I really feel drawn to bending because it's so unique and I love the quality of the sounds that bending produces and the randomness and indeterminate nature of those sounds.

CP: So what's the learning curve for circuit benders?

BP: There is no curve at all. Anyone can bend—new, young or old!

JAR: You just have to have an open mind and be willing to explore the machine sonically.

BP: You also need to know how to solder—but that's really simple.

CP: Any tips for beginners?

BP: Keep an open mind is essential when you are bending.

JAR: And an open ear!

BP: People should also bring a sense of play.

JAR: Every machine has a different sonic pallet inside of it—different sounds that exist within it.

BP: We like to tell people they are sonic explorers during our workshops.

JAR: People should be willing to take apart their machines without feeling like they are going to break them.

BP: We always suggest that people start bending with second hand toys, they are inexpensive and they have already been discarded—and you can have your first bending experience on them and then move on to bending something of more value.

JAR: Like a more expensive drum machine or keyboard.

CP: Is there anything you keep an eye out for when raiding an old basement for toys, or checking out garage sales?

BP: We are big fans of Casio keyboards.

JAR: We like the SK series a lot and when we perform as Beatrix*JAR I play the Casio MT-540.

BP: We also look for kids drum machines and quirky kids toys that have a lot of sound initially. Machines from the 80's are the best.

JAR: They usually have more sounds to bend.

CP: Any unusual places you'd recommend when looking for materials to experiment with?

JAR: We like to go to church rummage sales, estate sales, garage sales, and thrift stores.

BP: For bending materials we go to Ax Man Surplus and we order switches online. We don't go anywhere to unusual, I know there are other benders out there who go to more extremes to find machines than we do.

CP:What's the strangest thing you've used to create a sound?

JAR: I induce and manipulate AM radio frequencies with a disposable flash camera. I charge the camera in close proximity to the radio and it creates an electronic cat purr/sonic explosion mixed with the AM signal.

BP: The Musical Animal Playground! It makes different animal sounds like a cat and frog, and with the bends triggered it sounds amazing! JAR bent it about two years ago and I used its samples for one of our songs, "Oral Fixation."

CP: What inspires you when you're doing this? It sounds like play.

JAR: I am inspired by discarded and unwanted sounds, and feel really fortunate to re-present them in an original way. There is a real surplus of discarded machines and sound-making devices.

BP: I'm inspired by having a nonmusical childhood. I was turned off as a kid trying to learn music—the guitar, the keyboard. My music lessons never really sunk in, so I settled on being a music connoisseur. It's really cool now to be an adult and to see technology advance in such a way that people like me can make music. I can work from an emotional and intuitive place as a sound artist as opposed to a technical place that a musician might be in.

JAR: We're also inspired by the sameness of music. We feel really inspired to color outside of that box. We want to create something original and inspire others to think in this way.

CP: Would you say that the Twin Cities is a big town for circuit bending? Are there any local events/locations that are hot spots? Would you say that the phenomena (as well as the festival) has grown since you started?

BP: This is the fourth year of the festival. It's very cool that it's traveling around this year. It will be in New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

JAR: But there are bigger cities with more interconnected benders.

BP: I think that's why we started doing circuit bending workshops and that is why we are so excited about the festival. We feel compelled to inspire new benders and new sound artists so there will be even more interesting music in the world.

JAR: I think the phenomenon grows every minute.

BP: Let's hope it bends the radio airwaves—and the way we listen to music.

$24 for a three-day pass. For info, visit www.bentfestival.org.

CIRCUIT BENDING WORKSHOP @ BENT MINNEAPOLIS 2007

Bent Festival Mpls 2007 saw us hosting one of our largest circuit bending workshops - up to that point. The festival hosted many talented circuit bending sound artists including: Tim Kaiser, bit R chip, Circuit Master, Igloo Martian, Mystery Palace, Spunky Toofers, Datura 1.0, Jeff Donaldson, Moth Robot, Loud Objects & Ron Schleper

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 12

2011-03-12T12:45:00.009-06:00

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD SOMETHING VISUAL? GET READY FOR BEATRIX*JAR! -Early Beatrix*JAR Logo

PRESS KITS

Booking shows and workshops didn't happen magically. When we first started we mailed out homemade press kits to prospective clients. We put together little books made up of some of the following pages & secured them by sewing them together on our machine. The page backgrounds were taken from stamp collages Jacob created.

Click on images below to get a closer view of our early Beatrix*JAR press kits.

The BEATRIX*JAR Page of our early Press Kit.
Designed by Bianca/Jacob

The WHERE Page of one of our early Press Kits.
Designed by Bianca/Jacob

The STATS Page of our early Press Kit.
Designed by Bianca/Jacob

The WHERE Page of an early Press Kit.
Designed by Bianca/Jacob

The WHO Page of an early Press Kit.
Designed by Bianca/Jacob

The WHERE Page of one of our early Press Kits.
Designed by Bianca/Jacob

A One Sheet for Talk Bird used to get radio play.
Designed by Bianca and Jacob

MORE EARLY AUDIO AND VIDEO

An early Bianca Pettis video made from hand drawn stills of herself and her boyfriend. Originally the video was silent. This version has an early audio collage from Jacob Aaron Roske made from radio samples and electro beats.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 11

2011-03-11T09:15:00.007-06:00

CIRCUIT BENDING ON THE ROAD

We continued doing shows and workshops through the end of 2006.

In the 2007 we hit the road again touring Columbus, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Erie, PA. We did our first Sound Art residency at the Erie Art Museum!

Here's a March 2007 interview for the Erie Morning News.

Circuit Bending @ the Erie Art Museum. Circa 2007

Click on image above to view a photo album.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day 10

2011-03-10T09:35:00.013-06:00

CIRCUIT BENDING WORKSHOPS - 2006

When we went on our first tour Jacob worked part time as a College Lab Assistance at MCTC and we shared a part time job at a Law Office reception desk in downtown Minneapolis.

When we got back from that first tour, we were changed. How could we sit and answer incoming phone calls when there was a whole world out there for us to explore? We both gave notice at the Law Offices and decided to try our hand at offering circuit bending workshops full time.

We started off by offering workshops on Sunday afternoons out of our apartment in Loring Park.

An Afternoon workshop at our apartment in Loring Park circa 2006

A workshop in Duluth, MN hosted by our friend Hattie Peterson.

When we first gave workshops from our home, we would ask the participants to bring a battery powered plastic music making device to bend.

One of my favorite keyboards to demonstrate the technique of Circuit Bending was a Casio MT-540. - JAR

Circuit Bent Casio MT-540 Keyboard

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Nine

2011-03-09T10:03:00.007-06:00

BENT FESTIVAL 2006

JAR in NYC circa 2006

After playing a bunch of shows and exploring new sounds in the Twin Cities we were invited to play at the 2006 Bent Festival in NYC. The Festival turned out to be an amazing experience, we got to connect with the larger circuit bending community and we felt so inspired when we were done, we decided that we were going on tour.

TRAVEL ENERGY ENDS

In the early days our live performances incorporated some of our video projects as background footage. Here's another cool video from JAR circa 2003 that we used as footage for some shows.

TALK BIRD TOUR

“Sound art Team Beatrix*JAR are not only tour to bring you their music, they are also offering tutorials on the art of DIY sound making. Called “circuit bending” the practice is a means of manipulating sounds from recycled battery powered electronic toys.” – Shepherd Express, Milwaukee (2006)

Starting with a 2006 trip to Bent Festival NYC, Beatrix*JAR decide to hit the road on their first tour. The twist? They will offer circuit bending workshops paired with their performances.

August 2006: TALK BIRD TOUR

August 9, 2006
Hotcakes Gallery, Milwaukee - Workshop, Show (Pictured above)

August 11, 2006
Super Happy Funland, Houston - Workshop, Show

August 13, 2006
High Mayhem, Santa Fe - Workshop, Show (Pictured above)

August 15, 2006
Trunk Space, Phoenix - Workshop, Show (Pictured above)

16th Il Corral, Los Angeles (WE DIDN'T PLAY)
17th The Mighty, San Francisco - Show

August 19, 2006
Zeum, San Francisco - Workshop (Pictured above)

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Eight

2011-03-08T08:44:00.009-06:00

EARLY BEATRIX*JAR

"The standard band set-up for most musical acts is a guitar, bass and drums. Over the last few years laptops and DJ set-ups have been added to the mix. Beatrix Jar—which is Bianca Pettis and Jacob Roske --have moved away from all those instruments to create songs patterned around sound collages of unique beats, noises, radio signals and samples."
- Rich Horton 2006

Beatrix*JAR @ The Dinkytowner circa 2006

Click on the link above to see images of Beatrix*JAR in the years before they started offering Circuit Bending Workshops.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Eight: Beatrix*JAR Live Turf Club Show by Beatrix*JAR

Ah the early shows. From March 2005 til July 2006 we just played music together with no thoughts of teaching workshops. Looking back this was truly an exploration phase. JAR was learning to incorporate a Beatrix into his set. Beatrix was learning to play. The results were often strange little chaotic songs with vocal tracks. We rehearsed often and played opening slots at local clubs and galleries. We didn't always know what we were doing, but we worked really hard to put something new out there for the world to digest.

Bianca @ NYC Bent Festival 2006

In 2006 we were invited to attend the 2006 Bent Festival in New York. Traveling to play a show for the first time was very exciting for us. We put wheels on our cases and stayed at a friends apartment in the city for a week.

The Bent Festival turned out to be an amazing experience, we got to connect with the larger circuit bending community and we felt so inspired when we were done, we decided that we were going on tour.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Seven

2011-03-06T21:55:00.007-06:00

SILENCE

Cage*j by Beatrix*JAR

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Six

2011-03-06T09:02:00.017-06:00

JAR TO BEATRIX*JAR

Let's see...where are we? So far we've established:

Jacob & Bianca created work as solo artists initially. JAR was a performance and video artist: experimenting with new sounds and images. Bianca was a performance artist: writing shows about cockroaches & ladders to the moon.

The two met in the video editing suite at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Jacob gave Bianca a CD of his music and Bianca made a video to one of the songs.

Phew. So then what happened?

Well, Bianca and Jacob moved in together and she felt inspired to help JAR. So aside from making the film Circuit Diagram together, the pair started making promo materials for JAR. JAR T-Shirts, PRESS Kits, and videos.

Behind the scenes Bianca was doing her audio experiments.

Jacob and Bianca recorded tracks together for JAR.

JAR @ the Entry, Minneapolis circa 2005
Image by Bianca

BEGIN SPACE VOX
circa 2004 JAR shows

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrosective Day Six: BegINspACEvox by Beatrix*JAR

THE JAR SHOWS

JAR COVER circa 2005
by Bianca and Jacob

JAR @ the Turf Club, St. Paul Circa 2005
Image by Bianca

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Six: Mac classic Bell by Beatrix*JAR

BEATRIX is BORN

We were playing music more and more together behind the scenes. One day JAR asked me to join the band. I thought it was a great idea, but what instrument would I play? How would I lend a new take to the already existing JAR sound?

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Six: Revelation # B by Beatrix*JAR

BEATRIX Time Line:

1. I saw JAR open for Les Georges Leiningrad. They keyboardist banged the keys with her fist and played the keyboard with her head.

2. Saw Christian Marclay at the Walker. It was supposed to be outdoors but it was raining so we went indoors to the Women's Center. Marclay played a record player with 3 tone arms. He played it like I had never seen a record player played.

3. Tried to play a Reel to Reel player like Marclay. It didn't quite work.

4. Tried to play an AKAI sampler.

5. Saw DJ Spooky at Spark Festival. He gave a lecture and played tracks on a CD-J.

6. Aw, the CD-J! I could load samples...any samples I want on a disc, I could manipulate, scratch, loop, drag, break, modified the pitch and delay / echo loop.

7. Beatrix = Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill. She kicked ass.

8. Sample sources: You Tube, Archive.org, old Reel to Reel tapes, Public Service Announcements, Old Car Commercials, Drive Inn Movie Trailers,

SURFACE NOISE
from ART*STAR

Surface noise by Beatrix*JAR

SURFACE NOISE SAMPLE SOURCE Christian Marclay Mini Documentary

VERY EARLY BEATRIX*JAR IMAGES

Beatrix*JAR @ The Minnesota Museum of American Art Image by Mark Wojahn

Beatrix*JAR @ The Entry, Minneapolis - circa 2005 Image from old Distortion Magazine Blog

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Five

2011-03-05T09:49:00.015-06:00

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM - 2004

We met at a Canadian Boarding School.

Actually we met at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, in the video editing suite.
We only told a few people...but we made a video back then and here it is.

Circuit Diagram - 2004

About Circuit Diagram:

Jacob plays himself at the time: a sound tech at a Minneapolis night club. One day he receives a call inviting him to perform a set as his one man band "JAR" because another band has canceled.

While searching for the one key ingredient to make his performance shine he meets a Speak and Spell named Michel. Through the process of Circuit Bending Jacob transforms Michel to a unique new musical instrument.

Later that day he meets Bianca, an actress, and the two fall in love.

Cool Stuff About Circuit Diagram:

The very first Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske (Beatrix*JAR) collaboration.

No toys were harmed in the making of this video. (No really, we're serious - we didn't actually circuit bend!)

We did everything including the music (loops from an early version of Apple Soundtrack)

We shot the video ourselves - one person holding the camera while the other filmed or with the camera on a tripod.

The video was shot in Minneapolis and features the interior of the 7th Street Entry and the exterior of the Kitty Cat Klub.

Bianca wore two different wigs for the shoot.

Jacob's apartment was Bianca's apartment in reality.

We tried to imitate our favorite director at the time, Michel Gondry, during one of the scenes.

The video features a radio interview with Jacob and Pam Hill Kroyer from KFAI.

The final dream sequence took place in the house where Jacob grew up.

Jacob used this video as his final project in Digital Video.

EXPERIMENTAL VIDEOS

We met in a video editing suite...you know that part by now.

Here are some of the projects we each created in 2004. Even before we met we both shared a D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) aesthetic when it came to making work. So all of the projects you will see are shot and edited by each of us, unless indicated.

THE LAST DAY OF MOURNING or FUZZY PEEP HOLE
by Bianca

"I was my own Lil' Kim...except my sound track was Guided By Voices...don't ask about the wig, I was going through a phase." - Bianca

Notes on "Fuzzy Peep Hole"

It was edited in 2004 with old version of imovie - so the video is a bit degraded.
Audio "Peep Hole" by GBV

REEL TO REEL RADIO
by JAR

THE GIFT - AN EXCERPT
by Bianca

Featuring: Dylan Thies, Tom Snell, Bianca Pettis
Song: White Light, White Heat - The Velvet Underground

I discovered the Velvet Underground when I was a teenager going through my "Andy Warhol" phase. When I first heard the band they blew my mind!

The song, "The Gift", is one of my favorites from their album "White Light, White Heat". In 2004 I created a video about the plight of our friend Waldo Jeffers. The video uses a live version of the Gift from the Velvet Underground's release "Live MCMXCIII"

Here's an excerpt.

WAKEUP JACOB / DREAM JAR
by JAR

Notes on Wake Up Jacob / Dream JAR

An early Jacob Aaron Roske audio and visual exploration in visual layers, new sounds, home footage and after effects circa 2003.

This is the dream world of Jacob Aaron Roske, where backwards speaking weather ban robots can be heard mixed with soft fuzz electronic music played on analog machines. This video includes audio and video footage of the first time Bianca and I hung out. - Jacob

WAKING UP NEXT TO YOU WITH A WIG ON AND A HANGOVER
by Bianca

Notes:

Bianca and Jacob met in a video editing suite.

Jacob gave Bianca a CD of his music.

Bianca made a video of one of the songs.

This is that video.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Four

2011-03-04T14:15:00.017-06:00

I LOVE YOU TALK BIRD

By looking back at all that we've done this album has a new meaning for us. You always feel a certain way about your first album...our feelings were at first: inspired, in love, experimental - then came the reviews: we felt sad, shame, we hid it away in a closet and even quit singing.

Looking back we recognize it as a part of us. We embrace it and realize we wouldn't be where we are now if we hadn't taken the time to make it.

So put on a pair of headphones...because here it is in it's entirety: I Love You Talk Bird!

Beatrix*JAR Retrospective Day Four: I Love You Talk Bird by Beatrix*JAR

Enjoy!

******************************************************

DID WE MENTION " I LOVE YOU TALK BIRD?"

Click on the image above to read a 2005 Rift Magazine Review of "I Love You Talk Bird"

TALK BIRD IN RETROSPECT

At first we looked to reviews to tell us what we had done. Then gradually over time we learned that it was us that had to tell the press who we were. That was a real head trip. We had to confront what our intentions were and try to communicate them clearly.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Three

2011-03-04T14:14:00.006-06:00

JACOB AARON ROSKE = JAR

A collage by JAR - 2002

The year is 2003. Fresh from the Sound Arts Program at MCTC (Minneapolis Community and Technical College) a young Jacob Aaron Roske takes his very first sound technician gig at the Loring Pasta Bar. Aw, there he is in the sound booth above the dance floor adjusting levels for Monday Night Hip Hop. Oh...there he is setting up microphones for Ticket to Brasil.

Then the owners of the Pasta Bar opened the Kitty Cat Klub just down the street. Do you want to work here? The owner asked and Jacob was hired. Some nights you would spot him running back and forth between the Pasta Bar and the Kitty Cat Klub. They asked me to be in two places at once and I said No Problem. That was Jacob.

One night at the Kitty Cat Klub there was a last minute band cancellation. They asked young Jacob if he knew of another band that could take their place.

He thought for a moment and said: I make sounds.

What do you call yourself? they asked.

I go by my initials: J.A.R.

And so a JAR was born.

An early JAR performance at the Kitty Cat Klub - 2004

From 2004 - 2006, JAR did monthly solo experimental musical performances at the Kitty Cat Klub. Some of the instruments he played were:

Modified Casio MT-540
Tiger 2xL Tape Machine
Modified Roland Drum Machine
Modified DD-5 digital delay
Modified Speak and Math
Modified Speak and Spell
AM Radio + Flash Cameras

JAR's audio set-up circa 2005

Why Am I Here and How Do I Live? by Beatrix*JAR

An early Jacob Aaron Roske audio collage experiment circa 2002.
Some sounds used: AM radio, flash camera, TR707 drum machine, electronic sounds from a MIDI keyboard

Bruno MegaHertz by Beatrix*JAR

An early JAR audio experimentation circa 2002 with the robot weather radio voice, AM radio, Roland drum machine, flash cameras and electronic sounds form a MIDI keyboard.

JAR T-Shirts @ the Kitty Cat Klub - circa 2004

JAR continued to perform solo at many venues around the twin cities including: Turf Club, Fine Line, Circuit Benders Orchestra at Theater de la Jeune Lune, Rouge Buddha Gallery and the 7th Street Entry.

Jar T-Shirt Promo, circa 2004

He went on to form Beatrix*JAR...and you know the rest! Beatrix*JAR hosted two CD Release parties at the Kitty Cat Klub for Golden Fuzz & I Love You Talk Bird.

As a sound tech, Jacob had an amazing time with all the bands that came to the stage and loved the sound reinforcement situations he was exposed to at the Kitty Cat Klub.

Bianca: Actor/Writer/Solo Performer

"Bianca Pettis charming baffling solo show plays like a cryptic little inside joke the actor has decided to let the rest of us in on Thank goodness she has ..." - Star Tribune (2000)

Image by Marc Bowen - 2000

Bianca started acting at the age of 14 with the Planned Parenthood sponsored Teen Theatre Troupe "Focus" based out of Charlotte, NC.

Bianca's teen acting image (80's)

She went on graduate from high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts Pre-Professional Acting Program. After she graduated she took some time to hang out in a Chuck E. Cheese suit. Then she enrolled in Antioch College.

Focus Teen Family Theatre - 1989

While at Antioch, Bianca discovered photography, non-traditional theatre and with the encouragement of her professor Louise Smith, she soon found herself creating unique solo performances.

While at Antioch, Bianca interned at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis and settled down in the city after graduating from college.

From 1996 to 2002, Bianca worked professionally as an actor and writer in Minneapolis for many years. She frequently appeared with Frank Theatre performances, including:

The America Play - 1996
Self Defense, or Death of Some Salesmen
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Ambient Love Rites

EXTERMINATE YOUR LOVE EXCERPT (2000)
A solo performance: By Bianca Pettis
(BABBA – an old fat roach is wheeled in on a skateboard. He is pushed or pulled by a troupe of cockroaches. He clears his throat then begins to sing, they join in.)

BABBA
It's time for all humans to die!
We've been here since the beginning of time.
We've checked in and out of their roach motels.
They tried to kill us but their chemicals failed.
Their chemicals failed.
Their chemicals failed.

We've lived in garbage can mansions.
We've survived the Ice Age.
There are millions in our minions.
(and) We're rising up in rage.

We've been here since the beginning of time.
They tried to kill us and we don't know why.
We're gonna kill them all and we'll do it good.
So we can live our lives the way that we should.
The way that we should.
We know how we should.

We've lived in garbage can mansions.
We've survived the Ice Age.
There are millions in our minions.
We're rising up in rage!

Bianca by Marc Bowen - 2001
The image was used to promote her solo show "Exterminate Your Love"

Click here to read a Minneapolis City Pages Review of Bianca's Solo Performance
The Besides.

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day Two

2011-03-04T14:12:00.006-06:00

A couple must know they've got something pretty special when they can agree that staying in for the night means less TV and more time spent sprawled out on the living room floor making beats and fiddling with circuitry. - Lindsey Thomas, City Pages (2006)

An image from our first show at the Hexagon Club in Minneapolis.

We did not move that night. We sat paralyzed in our seats.
We turned to stone and played a beautiful first show.

****************************************************

Beatrix*JAR + 7th Street Entry

JAR setting up at the 7th Street Entry, 2004
Image by Beatrix*JAR

When we first started playing shows together one of our favorite reoccurring gigs was onstage at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. The Entry is a small club connected to the larger First Avenue. First Avenue is the club Prince performed in for the film Purple Rain - for all you non-Minnesotans.

Sometimes a band would cancel and we’d get a call from our favorite First Avenue booking agent Sonia inviting us to join the bill. Playing shows at the Entry always meant the world to us. We both grew up watching our favorite bands and DJs perform live there.

Over the years sound art duo Beatrix*JAR performed with the following bands at the 7th Street Entry:
Quintron and Miss Pussy Cat
Bat for Lashes
The Black Kids
The Virgins
Shawn Hewitt and the National Strike
Nomo
Solid Gold
The Octopus Project
Gil Mantera’s Party Dream
The Shout Out Out Out Out
Jeans Team
Les Georges Leningrad 
Edie Sedgwick
Harry Merry
The Entry also hosted shows at the Turf Club in St. Paul. At the Turf we opened for Architecture in Helsinki and Colour Music.

It was cool to hang out in that dirty little dressing room and talk to the other bands!

Click on the image above to read a July 2005 City Pages article: Beatrix*JAR @ the 7th Street Entry.

We learned a lot from performing on that stage. The first time we performed there we showed up with: video, costumes, lyrics, matching knee socks and a lot of nervous energy. After years of performing with so many other cool bands, we learned that less was more and started to just focus on the sounds that we wanted to make. So we took away the video, the singing and the costumes and just started to be ourselves.

In many ways the Entry was our sonic sandbox. No show was ever the same. Playing our music at the club was the best thirty minutes of our day. The club supported us and exposed us to various types of audio art. Through our shows at the Entry we cultivated our unique style, turned on our sonic energy and learned to be in the moment. The 7th Street Entry taught us the way that played was okay!

******************************************************

I LOVE YOU TALK BIRD
Our earnest beginning.

 

We recorded audio for this album in the living room of our studio in the Loring Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. We set up our gear on a little plastic table in front of our computer, plugged our mixer into an M-Audio Box and recorded each other into the first version of Soundtrack that came bundled with Final Cut Pro. We had a really fantastic time making the music and felt really inspired creating it. In retrospect (aw retrospect) it never occurred to us to change the BPM (Beats Per Minute) on our songs and it wasn’t until our vocal recording session with Ben Durrant at Crazy Beast Studios in Minneapolis, that we even thought of panning or offering our listeners a pause in the beat.

French Binaural by Beatrix*JAR

Some found sounds we used on Talk Bird:
Weather Ban Radio
Puppy Training Record
Atari Pac Man Sounds
Sex Scene from Phantom of the Paradise
Binaural recording
Number Stumper 
Modified Speaks
Modified Casio
AM Radio
Old Drug Public Service Announcement
Old Car Commercials
Robots
Christian Rap Preacher
Russian for everybody

Click on the image above for a review of I Love You Talk Bird.

Lyrics from the Song Sunday Ditchers from our first disc: I Love You Talk Bird.

I'm going plastic.

Red tongues elastic.

Your lips they shimmer.

The suns exploding.

(and)

It's time for dinner.

Around the metro rain was falling.

I've got a fidget.

Love’s sinking widget.

You park and go.

No blue light special.

No late late night show.

Just give me pictures.

The Sunday ditchers.

I missed church again.

I pray to Jesus.

To touch my Texas.

Don't pick my friends.

Spring hearts summer ends.

Lick my sins before I do them again.

Lick my sins.

Spring hearts summer ends.

Fling Hears Summer Ends.

Spring hearts summer ends.

Fling Hears Summer Ends.

It ends.

Click on the image above to purchase a copy of "I Love You Talk Bird"

Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective Day One

2011-03-04T14:11:00.004-06:00

ONLY THE BEGINNING

"In an age of sample-crazy, electronically altered music, one Minneapolis group is wiring new connections in the search for exciting sounds. The electronic duo Beatrix*Jar has adopted a do-it-yourself method for coaxing audio out of familiar and unfamiliar sources. The group is holding workshops to teach the method to musicians and non-musicians alike."

- Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio (2006)

Here's a link to an October 2006 interview with Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts. Click on the image above to view article.

SOME WORK WE'VE DONE

American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore (2007)

In March 2007 , the American Visionary Art Museum offered a "Circuit Bending Date Night" and we were the hosts. Click on the image below to see more. One of the museum's staff members, Joe Wall, gave a Theremin performance.

Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor (2007)

Click the image above for images from a workshop we gave in march 2007 @ neutral zone - a really cool teen space in Ann Arbor, MI. Some participants got so excited about circuit bending they started a band called "Triple Trouble" and opened for us at the Ann Arbor art center that night. This was when we used to sing.

About The Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective

2011-03-01T22:31:00.050-06:00

SEVEN YEARS - THIRTY DAYS

We're taking "Sound Art Duo" from our title.

After many years of working together as the sound art duo Beatrix*JAR, we have decided to bring our other talents to the forefront.

We're keeping the name Beatrix*JAR, but now we are referring to ourselves as a "Dynamic Duo".

For us the change means - we will become the medium - and as a duo we will fulfill our dreams of creating work that incorporates all of our favorite mediums.

SOUND
VISUAL ART

MEDIA: PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO
PERFORMANCE ART
WRITING

In honor of our seven year relationship and our work as the sound art duo Beatrix*JAR, we invite you to enjoy our month long Beatrix*JAR Sound Art Retrospective.

- Bianca & Jacob (Beatrix*JAR)

Day One: Only the Beginning
Day Two: Early Shows
Day Three: From Jacob to JAR, from Bianca to BEATRIX
Day Four: I Love You Talk Bird
Day Five: Early Video Projects

Day Six: JAR to BEATRIX*JAR
Day Seven: SILENCE
Day Eight: Early Beatrix*JAR
Day Nine: NYC Bent Festival 2006
Day Ten: Circuit Bending Workshops

Day Eleven: Circuit Bending on the Road
Day Twelve: Press Kits
Day Thirteen: 2007 Bent Festival - Minneapolis
Day Fourteen: Drinking with Ian
Day Fifteen: Get Lo Fi Festival

Day Sixteen: Young Audiences of Minnesota
Day Seventeen: Made in China (Song) + Festival of Appropriation
Day Eighteen: Golden Fuzz Review + Images by Emily Utne
Day Nineteen: Golden Fuzz EP
Day Twenty: Andy Warhol Museum

Day Twenty-One: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Day Twenty-Two: Wexner Center for the Arts
Day Twenty-Three: Minneapolis Bent Festival 2008
Day Twenty-Four: Hawaii
Day Twenty-Five: Erie Jazz and Blues Festival (Our 2nd Visit)

Day Twenty-Six: Walker Art Center Culture Camp
Day Twenty-Seven: Return of the Box
Day Twenty-Eight: Akron Art Museum
Day Twenty-Nine: Southern Tour
Day Thirty: Maker to Maker
Day Thirty One: Last Round of Workshops

The End

PAST NEWS

2010-08-03T13:00:00.011-05:00

Beatrix*JAR perform at REDCAT WINTER STUDIO

February 19 & 20, 2011

8:30pm

Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

631 W 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

http://www.redcat.org/event/studio-winter-2011

The latest installment of REDCAT's quarterly series of new work and works-in-progress features dance, theater, music and performance art by Los Angeles area artists. This edition of Studio was curated with guest curators Sheetal Gandhi and Tina Kronis, and features the following six original works:

BEATRIX*JAR: B. LUXX & J. STARR
Circuit-bending artists Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske search for the starting point of the story of their creative life, their romantic partnership and their DIY aesthetic, sifting through fictions as they generating a sonic tale of self-invention.

PAUL FRASER: BEDLAM
For his three-movement composition, Paul Fraser uses aluminum foil to modify the instruments of six vocalists, three percussionists, a brass quartet, a violin and contrabass, eliciting a unique experimental timbre from an incurably insane ensemble.

MARCUS KUILAND-NAZARIO: DRIFT
Wrapped under covers of bedding, performance artist Marcus Kuiland-Nazario delves into sleeping habits and the search for comfort in his interactive work set to an electronic score by Aaron Drake and staged with projected photographs by Martin Cox.

EMILY MAST: WE PLAY NOTHING
Visual artist Emily Mast directs a distillation of Peter Handke’s 1966 anti-play Offending the Audience, performed here by seven children between the ages of six and twelve who deliver a matter-of-fact text that questions the very nature of performance.

TIFFANY STACEY: FATA MORGANA
Accompanied by a live improvised score, eight dancers continually create and break choreographic structures in Tiffany Stacey’s new dance, adding and subtracting bodies to invoke misleading impressions and to destabilize perceptions.

KRISTINA WONG: CAT LADY (EXCERPTS)
Pickup artists meet cat pee in Kristina Wong’s latest work-in-development, directed by Shawn Sides, in which she examines unexpected parallels in the “scripts” of two very different kinds of artists—the lonely solo performer and fast-talking male seducer.

NEW BEATRIX*JAR VIDEOS

Queen Beatrixx

Queen Beatrixx - LARGE from Beatrix JAR on Vimeo.

Let's Make Some Sounds

Let's Make Some Sounds from Beatrix JAR on Vimeo.

December 13, 2010
Beatrix*JAR Featured on Some Assembly Required 50/50 Collection

50/50 is a new collection of miniature sound collage by a wide variety of established and emerging collage artists from around the world. Each composition clocks in at exactly 50 seconds, and all tracks are composed of at least 50% recycled sound.

mnartists.org and radio program Some Assembly Required issued a call for artists in 2009 and were thrilled to receive submissions from renowned sound collage artists such as Beatrix*JAR, Orchid Spangiafora, The Bran Flakes, DJ Lobsterdust, and Realistic, to name just a very few. With a diversity of sound that will be familiar to listeners of the long-running radio program, the pieces presented on the new CD run the gamut from cut-ups and noise, to mashup and glitch pop. The 50/50 collection is being released as a going away present of sorts - Some Assembly Required will end its twelve years on the air in January 2011.

50/50 is the seventh release by the Minneapolis-based, sound collage label, Recombinations. From its inception, this independent label has been dedicated to the promotion of sound collage artists who dare to follow their creative impulses, recycling elements from disparate media into their sound assemblages. Run by Jon Nelson, of Some Assembly Required, Recombinations was launched in 2004.

More info and online ordering at: http://www.some-assembly-required.net/5050

Want to hear a sample? Listen online to a generous sampling of 20 of the new sound collage tracks on 50/50 on the Some Assembly Required website: http://www.blog.some-assembly-required.net/2010/04/episode-254-some-assembly-required.html

Media contact for high-res images and interviews: Jon Nelson, 612-990-0610

PostConsumer01@yahoo.com

P.O. Box 3440, Duluth, MN 55803 USA

October 13, 2010
Check out this wonderful article about our move to California:

Hearing LA Through Their Eyes: Beatrix*JAR, Comes to Town
By Lisa Keller

Sometimes it takes out-of-towners to help Angelinos appreciate our own fair town, and two such travelers recently materialized at a BBQ in Echo Park. Meet sound artists Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske, aka Beatrix*JAR – recent exports from Minneapolis. They’ve been to LA before – a three day engagement in Santa Monica in 2008 and most recently another three day stint at the Hammer Museum at UCLA. Now they’re back and they intend to stay for a while.

Bianca and Jacob have lots of practice seeing the beauty and usefulness in objects that others might discard -- they’re “circuit benders,” who re-wire electronic devices in ways the manufacturer never intended – so it’s especially refreshing to view the state of the Arts in LA through the eyes of this multimedia duo.

When they bring out their some of their recent instruments/toys, the quiet afternoon BBQ is transformed into a soundfest. Plastic electronic children’s toys, spray-painted gold, have been rewired to emit a series of bizarre noises when you press different keys. An AM radio, also similarly gilded, emits an otherworldly Theremin-like wail when a couple of old disposable flash cameras are passed within a foot of it. Kids and adults alike, we can’t keep our hands off these oddly doctored devices.

Jacob was introduced to the technique years ago when a friend invited him over for an afternoon of “circuit bending.” His first questions “What is that? Is it legal?” Bianca, whose mom worked at Texas Instruments as a little girl, never dreamed that she would one day become a collaborative sound artist and transform T&I’s signature Speak and Spell toys into musical instruments. The “hypercreative connection” they established when they first met has taken the pair into forays in fine art, music, video and photography, and resulted in a super-varied, do-it-yourself body of work – including workshops, performance art and audio performances.

A grant from the Bush Foundation (an organization that “gives financial and professional development support” to artists and community leaders from Minnesota, North and South Dakota) is enabling Beatrix*JAR to travel and to explore possibility of making LA their new base of operations, and giving them the opportunity to re-invent, re-imagine and rejuvenate themselves as artists and as a couple. Jacob and Bianca both agree that it’s been an “emotional journey,” which began when they packed up their life in Minnesota and became “wandering sound artists.”

How do they feel about LA so far? Bianca sees a city with a “thriving heartbeat, where everyone is fighting for the same stuff…whether it’s fighting for a parking space, “or noticing the “different tiers” of career success. In contrast to Minnesota’s “cow country” vista, the So Cal landscape inspires her – “I love the beaches, the mountains. Yesterday we drove out to Malibu – near Pepperdine – it was breathtaking, wow!” Meanwhile, Jacob is busy “listening to the sounds of our environment,” absorbing the music in the cacophony of everyday life in the city.

Both of them love the cosmopolitan-ness of LA – e.g. being able to find restaurants that are open all night. They also note that the town has a commitment to investing in creativity – especially in the entertainment industry, and they can see a myriad of possibilities for collaboration with people they’ve come into contact with.

What do they bring to the table? Among other things, they bring the ability to “find the hidden value in everyday objects, to find hidden sounds in things that have been discarded.” Jacob thrives on teaching circuit bending to others. He loves seeing people “walk away playing an instrument they’ve made, as if they are their own personal marching band.”Jacob explains that Beatrix*JAR’s performances are similarly interactive. “We invite the audience to play instruments with us, to break barriers. The result is sometimes awkward and sometimes great.”

What new circuits will they connect in LA? How will LA transform the sounds of Beatrix*JAR? And how will Beatrix*JAR transform LA? That remains to be seen… and heard. In the meantime, their vision may just point the way for jaded Angelinos to re-imagine the broken symphony that is our city.

Updates on this dynamic duo and their latest sound collage release “Art*Star,”can be accessed on the website, Beatrixjar.com.

October 1, 2010

Beatrix*JAR are Minnesota Originals!

Minneapolis-based sound artists Beatrix*JAR play an interactive head-boppin' gig at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and share their secrets to releasing the sounds hidden inside every musical toy.

Click here to view an MN Original preview video by Chuck Olsen

Click here to view the MN Original Episode

August 17, 2010

The Beatrix*JAR store is OPEN!
Hosted by Big Cartel!

August 10, 2010 - ART STAR GOES DIGITAL!

Beatrix*JAR's newest audio release Art*STAR goes digital!
Click on link above to download from CDBABY.
Art*Star, the third release from conceptual sound art duo Beatrix*JAR, is a beat-driven sonic manifesto infused with the duo's signature instrumentation: AM radios + flash cameras, modified machines and unique samples.

Art*Star features two new collaborations that give an additional dimension to the already dynamic Beatrix*JAR sound. Track Number 3, “Thank You Jesus” was remixed by The Alpha Centauri’s Lance Conrad; Owner and Head Producer of the Minneapolis Recording Studio Human’s Win! The track is available for streaming on the Beatrix*JAR website: www.beatrixjar.com. Lazerbeak, the Minneapolis based production genius behind almost every Doomtree Release, steps out of the world of hip-hop production and into the world of audio collage with Track Number 9 “Lazer Beak Trix Jar”.

NEW AUDIO from the new Beatrix*JAR limited edition art disc release ART*STAR!

Queen beatrixx by Beatrix*JAR

From the new release Art*Star by Beatrix*JAR
"QUEEN BEATRIXX" by Beatrix*JAR is licensed under a Creative Commons License

mono%momo by Beatrix*JAR
From the new release Art*Star by Beatrix*JAR
"MONO%MOMO" by Beatrix*JAR is licensed under a Creative Commons License

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR VERY OWN LIMITED EDITION COPY OF ART*STAR!

THANK YOU JESUS by Beatrix*JAR
Mixed by Lance Conrad @ Humans Win! - Minneapolis
From the new Beatrix*JAR release Art*Star
"THANK YOU JESUS" by Beatrix*JAR is licensed under a Creative Commons License

Beatrix*JAR awarded 2010 Bush Fellowship in Media Arts

The Bush Artist Fellowships are designed to strengthen the work of regional artists, to foster their artistic careers and to explore work that stimulates community dialogue. The fellowships are awarded to artists who exhibit strong vision, creative energy, commitment to excellence and community engagement. In addition, fellows receive assistance in developing an individualized communications plan.

The 2010 fellowships are focused on three categories: media arts (working with digital media including but not limited to narrative, documentary, animation or experimental time-based works using audio, digital, film and/or video media, as well as computer arts), traditional and functional craft arts (all functional forms of traditional or contemporary craft arts including but not limited to weaving, quilting, woodcarving, basketry, metal work, beadwork, ceramics, glass, wood, metal, fiber and recycled materials) and visual arts (two- and three-dimensional forms including but not limited to painting, photography, printmaking, works on paper, collage, mixed media, sculpture, installation, artists books, cartooning, ceramics and fiber arts).

Click on this link to learn more about the 2010 Bush Artist's Fellowship

Thursday, July 15th
The ROBOTlove Grand Re-Opening, 6 Year Anniversary, Ninjatown Mini Series Pre-Release Party
Beatrix*JAR play at 8pm
ROBOT LOVE
**NEW LOCATION***
507 E. Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis , MN 55414

It's finally here! The ROBOTlove Grand Re-Opening, 6 Year Anniversary, Ninjatown Mini Series Pre-Release Party!

Come celebrate our new location in NE Minneapolis with a party of Ninja proportions! On Thursday, July 15th we'll be hosting a Grand Re-Opening/6 year Anniversary/Ninjatown Mini Series Pre-Release party complete with a SHAWNIMALS in-store artist meet and greet, music by BEATRIX JAR, DJ Sets by LITTLE GHOST, food and beverages from our NE neighbors and PRIZES!

It all starts at 6pm when the first 25 people thru the door get special Gift Bags with Prizes Galore! Be here early if you can! Don't worry if you miss out though, there will be plenty of goodies for everyone from our neighbors here in NE Minneapolis and across town.

Then at 7pm, we'll welcome SHAWNIMALS in from Chicago for an artist meet and greet. Chat with the creative mind behind Ninjatown, dive in to the new Ninjatown Mini Series from Kidrobot at this special pre-release party and demo the amazing NINJATOWN TREES OF DOOM iPhone/iPad game!

At 8pm BEATRIX JAR will present a special musical performance out back behind our space where there will be food and refreshments from area restaurants and more! Plus, the QR Code Show in the PINK HOBO GALLERY will be up for your viewing pleasure and DJ LITTLE GHOST will be keeping your ears happy throughout the night!

Please join us! Ninja stylings, yo!

Friday, July 16th
Walker Art Center - Open Field
Target Arts & Wonder Free Family Day: Family Art School
Beatrix*JAR Experimental Music Workshop
1pm - 4pm
Target invites you and your family to see more of the arts while spending less. As part of our efforts to support education in the communities we serve, Target sponsors free or reduced-price admission to arts and cultural events nationwide.

FRIDAY JUNE 25TH

Beatrix Jar CD release
@ Clubhouse Jager
923 Washington Ave. N.
Minneapolis

9pm / 21+ / Free

Get your shine on at Jager tonight, where conceptual sound art lovebirds Jacob Roske and Bianca Pettis, better known as Beatrix*Jar, will be celebrating their newest audio release, Art*STAR. The duo is famed for their expertise and workshops in circuit-bending a.k.a. coaxing sound from children’s toys and other battery-powered gadgets, and Art*STAR collages some the oddest and most evocative such sounds from live performances. Past audio feats have ranged from whimsical whirrs and tinkles to those much more dark and sinister, so expect nothing less than a bizarre (and utterly booty-shaking) mishmash when the pair hits the stage at midnight. For added shimmer, dress as an art star or your favorite work of art.
Sponsored by l'étoile!

This is the first ever screen printed poster by sound art duo Beatrix*JAR. The poster was designed by the Minneapolis screen printing house Aesthetic Apparatus. We went over on a Wednesday helped with the color mixing and printing. Special thanks to Jonathon (our designer and print host) and all the wonderful magical talent at Aesthetic Apparatus!
Size: 19" x 25"
Color Screen Print (Metallic Gold, Pink, Midnight Black) on archival white paper

TONIGHT!
Beatrix*JAR - ART*STAR: Limited Audio Art Disc Release Party
Clubhouse Jaeger – 923 Washington Avenue North, Minneapolis
9ish - 2am / 21+ / Free

DRESS AS YOUR FAVORITE ART STAR OR WORK OF ART

Tuesday, June 15th
The Beatrix*JAR play Flashbelt Conference After Party @ Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis
8:30pm
Click on link for more info.

The annual Flashbelt conference brings a few hundred designers and developers together in Minneapolis to get their geek on. Attendees meet a cadre of rock-star designers, whiz-kid developers, and best-selling authors. These industry leaders lead sessions and workshops on an array of timely topics. They teach tangible skills, inspire by example and answer lots of questions. As you might have guessed most of these topics revolve around Adobe Flash and related technologies. With the release of Flash Professional CS5 this spring, there will we plenty of new tools, trends and tips to talk about. Good timing! Outcomes: Attendees learn about the latest technologies and solutions, and get a glimpse of what's coming down the pipe. Their companies, clients and projects benefit. They meet other people in their field, exchange ideas, further inform their practices, and create new partnerships and alliances. They also typically make some new friends. Everybody likes friends.

Beatrix*JAR selected as finalists for the 2010 Bush Foundation Artist's
Fellowship in Media Arts
The Bush Artist Fellowships are designed to strengthen the work of regional artists, to foster their artistic careers and to explore work that stimulates community dialogue. The $48,000 fellowships are awarded to artists who exhibit strong vision, creative energy, commitment to excellence and community engagement. In addition, fellows receive assistance in developing an individualized communications plan, along with $2,000 to implement the plan. All BAF finalists who are not awarded fellowships will receive $1,000 in recognition of their accomplishments.

Click on this link to learn more about the 2010 Bush Artist's Fellowship.

This is the first ever screen printed poster by sound art duo Beatrix*JAR. The poster was designed by the Minneapolis screen printing house Aesthetic Apparatus. We went over on a Wednesday helped with the color mixing and printing. Special thanks to Jonathon (our designer and print host) and all the wonderful magical talent at Aesthetic Apparatus!
Size: 19" x 25"
Color Screen Print (Metallic Gold, Pink, Midnight Black) on archival white paper

TONIGHT!
Beatrix*JAR - ART*STAR: Limited Audio Art Disc Release Party
Clubhouse Jaeger – 923 Washington Avenue North, Minneapolis
9ish - 2am / 21+ / Free

DRESS AS YOUR FAVORITE ART STAR OR WORK OF ART

Click link below to read an article about Beatrix*JAR written by Eduardo Navas for Remix Theory: Beatrix*Jar, Hacking Away at MCASD, by Eduardo Navas

Click link below for images from Beatrix*JAR at the Hammer Museum in LA: Beatrix*JAR @ the Hammer Museum in LA

Beatrix*JAR gave their final public Circuit Bending Workshop at Noisebridge in San Francisco on January 27, 2010. The duo will continue to do performances. Stay Tuned!

Friday, May 21 - 9pm - 12pm
Beatrix*JAR play Electronic Circuit Bent Improv and DJ Sets at Cafe Maude in Minneapolis / Cafe' Maude: 5411 Penn Avenue South, Minneapolis

Friday, April 23rd
Beatrix*JAR play McNally Smith Sound Crawl
Music begins promptly at 10:00pm
Black Dog Coffee House - Lowertown St. Paul

Click Link below for more information: http://blog.mcnallysmith.edu/soundcrawl/2010/04/

Click Here for the CITY PAGES Article:
http://www.citypages.com/events/soundcrawl-beatrixjar-caly-mcmorrow-1366669/

McNally Smith College of Music, and the music college’s faculty members, J. Anthony Allen, Producer of the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts, 2003 – 2009) and Chris Cunningham, McNally Smith Composition and Songwriting Department Head. Other participants included: JP Hungelmann, Founder and producer of the Spark Festival “Nightlife” programming, DJ, Producer and founder of Timefog Recordings; Tony Bol: VP of Events, MPR; and Robyn Priestley of ArtCrawl.

About the Saint Paul Art Crawl
The St. Paul Art Collective/Saint Paul Art Crawl will be celebrating its 30^th Art Crawl this year, making one of the longest-running events of its kind in the nation. The Art Crawl is run by the artists themselves, and was developed out of a need for the artists who live and work in the Lowertown community to reach audiences for their art. The Saint Paul Art Crawl is free, and open to all. Its mission is to create an artist-run venue, which facilitates a mutually beneficial and meaningful interaction between the arts community and the public. For more information on the Art Crawl, or the St. Paul Art Collective, contact 651-292-4373.

Beatrix*JAR After Party at Clubhouse Jager in Minneapolis
11pm - 2am
21+ / Free
Join your favorite sound art duo Beatrix*JAR for a late-night DJ Set and Performance at the always phenomenal Clubhouse Jager.

Thursday, April 15th
Beatrix*JAR @ the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts - Third Thursday Art Remix
6 - 9

Think you know the MIA? Think again! Help the MIA launch a new era of contemporary art, with the exhibition "Until Now: Collecting the New (1960-2010)." Give your artistic perceptions some shock therapy by following the trail of Art ReMix, the new series of contemporary art interventions within the permanent collection galleries. Stay in the galleries for some cutting-edge sounds by Beatrix*JAR, or sample some remixology at the cash bar to music by Mark Mallman.

Free; refreshments for sale.

Saturday, April 17
**Highly Recommended - come out for dinner and amazing audio!
Beatrix*JAR play SAUCE Minneapolis with Estate and DJ Denver Dally
Doors @ 9pm, 21 + / $5

January 23 - 28, 2010 - Beatrix*JAR Tour California
Saturday, January 23rd - Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in conjunction with the Tara Donovan Exhibit, Circuit Bending Workshop - San Diego, CA

Click on image above for more information.

Saturday, January 23rd - UCLA Art Happening @ the Hammer Museum, Circuit Bending Demo and Show - Los Angeles, CA (7pm - 10pm)

Sunday, January 24th - Echo Park Film Center - Los Angeles, CA (1 Hour Workshop + Performance) 1pm - 3pm

Wednesday, January 27th - Noisebridge - San Francisco
6pm - 8pm: Circuit Bending Workshop - Our Final Public Workshop
8pm - 10pm: Beatrix*JAR Performance

Noisebridge is a space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentoring, and of course, learning. Noisebridge is also more than a physical space, it’s a community with roots extending around the world.

For more info email: beatrixjar(at)beatrixjar(dot)com

January 13, 2010
Science Museum of Minnesota - Make Day

December 31, 2009 - New Year's Eve

Beatrix*JAR New Year's Eve Performance!!!
@ Sauce - Minneapolis (click on link for info about Sauce)
with:
Estate
Mystery Palace
Lookbook
Beatrix Jar
DJ Gigamesh
Doors @ 9:30 / 21+/ More info to follow!

September 11, 2009 - October 3, 2009
Beatrix*JAR sound design Bedlam Theatre's production: Million Dollar Museum

Click image below for information and tickets:

September 25th - 26th
Beatrix*JAR @ the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC

in conjunction with the Cleve Gray Man and Nature Exhibition

Beatrix Jar Concert
09/25/09 @ 8:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 or $8 for members.
Conceptual sound art duo Beatrix Jar presents its circuit bending music – a mix of beats, sound samples, and random noise using toys, circuit boards, radio interference and other found sounds to create a “fuzzy sound collage.”

Circuit Bending Workshop with Beatrix Jar
09/26/09 @ 10:00 a.m - noon
Learn to make instruments from electronic toys. Toys and batteries are provided but participants are free to bring old toys. Minneapolis-based duo Bianca “Beatrix” Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske (“JAR”) have performed and presented workshops in museums across the U.S.

Ages: 16 and up
Cost: $62.50 Registration ends Friday, September 18.

Materials:
Supplies included.

Register Now!

For more information contact Grant Jackson or call 803.343.2187

September 18. 2009
Beatrix*JAR @ the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries:
Wright State University: Dayton, Ohio

Click picture below for more info:

Beatrix*JAR play Ingenuity Festival July 10-12, 2009
click on image below for more information:

Friday July 17, 2009: Station 4: 8pm / $10 / 18+
Marvelle, Beatrix*JAR & Mucca Pazza

Thursday, June 18. 2009. 8pm.

Experimental turntable composers Beatrix*JAR hit the Walker's Skyspace/Soundspace series. Bianca and Jacob's sound collages may be totally "out there" for the conventional types but they are really fun to watch live no matter what kind of music you like. They love what they do and everyone around them can feel it.

This event is part of a series that will be held every two weeks in the Sky Pesher and the Walker's Greenspace behind the museum. It's free but only extremely limited seating will be available inside the Sky Pesher (a semi-secret art installation in what looks like a storage room in the ground) so get there early if you want to be in there—tickets will be handed out to those lucky ones. There is unlimited space on the exterior of the Sky Pesher on the Walker Greenspace. Tickets are not needed for experiencing the concert outside the Sky Pesher. There will be speakers so that everyone will be able to hear the performance while watching the sunset and enjoying your favorite beverage from the cash bar (Note: drinks will not be allowed inside the Sky Pesher).

Spread out, bring your blanket or lawn chairs and enjoy the beautiful summer evening to a live soundtrack.

Thursday, April 16th @ 7pm
BEATRIX*JAR @ the Tobias Theatre at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Click on Image below for more information.

Saturday, March 28th. 10pm. $5. Kitty Cat Klub. 21+
DJ Bach, Beatrix*JAR, Tentacle Boy & Black Lacquer

FEB. 21 6:00pm Beatrix*JAR & Dance Band @ SPARK PARTY!
Regis Center for Art: 101 Pleasant Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455

FEB. 7th Beatrix*JAR & Solid Gold @ kitty cat klub: 21+ 10PM $5

January 16th
Beatrix*JAR play Fuzzy Sound Collage @ Cafe' Maude: 5411 Penn Ave. Minneapolis, 55419

Jan. 31st - 24th - Beatrix*JAR Southeastern Tour funded partially by an American Composers Forum Subito Grant

Jan. 31st: Telfair Art Museum, Savannah
Click on image below for more information:

Jan. 30th: Open Date: Please contact beatrixjar@beatrixjar.com for booking.

Jan. 29th: Open Date: Please contact beatrixjar@beatrixjar.com for booking.

Jan. 28th: New Music Collective - Charleston, SC
Circuit Bending Workshop + Performance
Details Enroute!

Jan. 27th: Wonderroot, Atlanta - 982 Memorial Drive, Atlanta, GA 30316
Two Hour Circuit Bending Workshop

Jan. 26th: Eyedrum, Atlanta - Performance and Demonstration
Click on link above for more information.
Time: 8pm / Cost: $7.00

Jan. 25th: Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga
2 Hour Circuit Bending Workshop @ 3pm
Click on image below for more information:

Jan. 24th: High Museum of Art, Atlanta - College Night
Click on link below for more information.

NEW YEARS EVE!
December 31st: Beatrix*JAR play New Years Eve Party with Unicorn Basement and MC/VL at Big V's - St. Paul, MN

Click on image below for flyer:

Monday, December 29th
Circuit Bending Workshop at the Dayton's Bluff Library
645 East 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55106
Phone: 651-793-1699

(Click on image below for more information.)

Monday, December 22nd
Circuit Bending Workshop at Rice Street Library, St. Paul
1011 Rice Street, St. Paul, MN 55117
Phone: 651-558-2223

Click on image below for more information:

Thursday, November 20, 2008, 5 - 9 pm
AKRON ART MUSEUM PRESENTS BEATRIX*JAR
Third Thursdays Concert and Cocktails featuring live DJ Set and Circuit Bending Performance Demonstration by BEATRIX*JAR

Sip a signature cocktail, enjoy an eclectic “fuzzy sound collage dance party” DJ set and circuit bending performance by cutting edge, in-demand sound artists BEATRIX*JAR - also shop for special sales in the Museum Store every third Thursday, October through May. Performance is FREE. Cash bar with happy hour specials will be open 5 – 8:45 pm.

For more information click on image below or call 330.376.9186 x229 or x230.

November 16, 8PM Pezzettino Happy Birthday To Me Tour at Big V's
with Beatrix*JAR, Brian Just & Pezzettino

City Pages picks "Pezzettino's Happy Birthday to Me Tour Flyer" by Dan Hernandez of dreadful days.net as Flyer of the Week:

Click on Link for more info:
http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2008/11/flyer_of_the_we_20.php

Coffman Memorial Union, The Whole
Nov 7 @ 8PM Beatrix*JAR, Baby Teeth, Ruby Isle

801 Gallery Opening October 11th, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

September 12th, 2008
Plains Art Museum: L.I.V.E Fargo, ND
Circuit Bending Workshop with Beatrix*JAR 6-8PM $20

click on image below for more info. and to reserve a spot!

Sunday August 31
Circuit Bent Sounds with Beatrix*JAR
The UnConvention at Peavey Plaza

August 5 - 8th
Walker Art Center Culture Camp & Beatrix*JAR

PRESS RELEASE
Culture Camp: Summer's Cool Returns for Another Season of Fun and Learning at the Walker Art Center!

At the Walker, join sound-art duo Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske of Beatrix*JAR to make nontraditional musical instruments, produce experimental electronic music with circuit-bent machines, and go on an audio scavenger hunt.

DATE: August 4 - 8, 2008
TIME: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
PLACE: On-site at each organization
PRICE: Section B (ages 7-9): SOLD OUT

DATE: August 4 - 8, 2008
TIME: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
PLACE: On-site at each organization
PRICE: Section A (ages 7-9): SOLD OUT

DATE: August 4 - 8, 2008
TIME: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
PLACE: On-site at each organization
PRICE: Section C (ages 10-12): SOLD OUT
Section A and B (ages 7–9) *These classes are sold out. Please call the box office at 612.375.7600 for more information.

Spend a day at each of five cultural arts organizations: the Children’s Theatre Company, the Walker Art Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Zenon Dance Company. Work with artists at each site to create original sound experiments, performances, prints, handmade books, and dances.

Friends and family are invited to a presentation at the end of class at each location. Participants must provide their own transportation to each institution and bring a bag lunch each day.

JULY 29th - AUGUST 2nd
BEATRIX*JAR AT THE ERIE ART MUSEUM
Click link below for more info:

Beatrix*JAR in HAWAII

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
Honolulu, Monday, April 21, 2008

Bending Circuits at The ARTS at Marks

Tim Bostock Productions and What's that Noise?! present sonic love-birds Beatrix*JAR on Saturday May 24th at The ARTS at Marks Garage. The show starts at 8pm and tickets will be $10 at the door, or $8 in advance from www.honoluluboxoffice.com or by phone at 550-8457.

Best known for touring the country spreading the good word of D.I.Y. electronics with uniquely playful performances and Circuit Bending Workshops, Bianca Pettis (BEATRIX) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR) create an audio world all their own and they have given it the most appropriate title: "Fuzzy Sound Collage".

In 2006, they released their first record, I Love You Talk Bird, a mix of created sounds and found bits collaged together. It was gently paced, an ambient haze of brushed beats accented with their own vocals, sometimes singing, sometimes moving jazzily over the tracks. On their 2007 release, Golden Fuzz, they've temporarily abandoned the singing and accelerated the tempo. The result is a more energetic flow of machine hiccups and space-signal broadcast oddities, as familiar-but-alien echoes ripple over currents of drum loops and electronica samples.

As the Pittsburgh City Paper noted: "The roots of the circuit-bending Minneapolis electronics duo's style stretch far back, from 1950s musique concrete to Kraftwerk's "Numbers," from Negativland and MC 900 Foot Jesus to today's mash-up artists, such as Girl Talk."

For more information contact Tim Bostock at 521-9699 or tbp@artsatmarks.com

FURTHER BIO and PRESS PHOTOS:
www.beatrixjar.com

Tim Bostock Productions LLC
The Best Performing Arts from around the World
The ARTS at Marks Garage
1159 Nuuanu Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96817

Telephone: (808) 521 9699
Fax: (808) 521 2923
TBP@artsatmarks.com

May 1 - 3rd, 2008
Minneapolis Bent Festival

May 1st - 3rd

The Bent Festival: The
Psychedelic Surreal World
of Electronic Sound

The Bent Festival is an annual art and
music festival celebrating DIY
electronics, hardware hacking, and
circuit bending. Each year Intermedia
Arts invites artists from across the
country and around the globe to perform
music with their home-made or circuit
bent instruments, teach workshops to
adults and children alike, create beautiful
art installations and to come together,
face to face, and showcase the state of
the art in DIY electronics and circuit
bending culture.

Local artists including Beatrix*JAR will
perform at 8pm each night. Workshops
are at 7pm Friday and from 11am to 5pm
on Saturday. Tickets are $10 for each
concert and $25 for festival passes.
For more information visit: bentfestival.org

Want to hear tricked out Speak 'N Spells?
Then email twincitiespromo@theonion.com
with "Bent Festival" in the subject line for
your chance to win free tickets!

Intermedia Arts
2822 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis

Beatrix*JAR Residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts

March 28, 2008
Beatrix*JAR at the Andy Warhol Museum

Spark Electronic Music and Art Festival 2008

Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts 2008
February 26 - March 2, 2008
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Douglas Geers & Ali Momeni, Artistic Directors
J. Anthony Allen, Programming Director
Phillip O'Toole, Technical Director
Zachary Crockett & Christopher Baker, Assistant Directors

For one week each year, the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts gathers creators and performers of new media arts from around the world to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul (USA) to showcase their work to the public.

Spark celebrates all uses of new technologies for artistic expression, including music, video, theater, dance, plastic artworks, and more. Centered around Minneapolis’ west bank theater district and the adjoining University of Minnesota West Bank Arts Quarter, Spark presents a wide variety of performances, workshops, discussions, and scholarly lectures. Nearly all Spark events are free, and all Spark events are open to the general public.

Special Events for 2008:

Tuesday, Feb. 26
Twin Cities Showcase 1
Time: 7pm
Location: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club
Works:

Shield Your Eyes
Nic Buron: "Knee Bone"
Beatrix Jar: Performance Set
Mystery Palace

Wednesday, Feb. 27
Concert of Found Sound / Audio Appropriation
Curated by Beatrix*JAR and the Whole Music Club
Time:11am
Location: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club
Including works by:
* Greg Carr: "The Sounds of Your Voice"
* Christopher De Laurenti: "Thrill"
* David Morneau: "Familiar Voices"
* Jason Wilhelm: "The Pavilion EP"
* Duncan Laurie, Todd Thille: "Rock Music"
* Bob Siebert: "Rrrrring Tones!"
* Sean O'Neill: "Fmusak"
* Natalie Bell: "Undercurrence"
* Michael Pounds: "Collection"

Wednesday, February 27th
Audio Technology and Electronic Club Meeting / Spark Music Festival
Circuit Bending Workshop
Time: 7pm
Location: Coffman Union, Room 323

Bring a battery powered toy to Bend!

Star Tribune Art Lab @ The Walker
Thursday, November 29th
5 – 9 pm / Free
Circuit Bending Workshop with Beatrix*JAR
Beatrix*JAR will perform at 7:30

Festival of Appropriation Closing Party Featuring Beatrix*JAR CD Release
@ The Kitty Cat Klub
Friday, November 30th
9pm / Free
Closing Party featuring Beatrix*JAR, Ghostband, DJ BACH.

9/3/07

Beatrix*JAR at the Festival of Appropriation
Presented by mnartists.org

November 2nd-30th

@ The Soap Factory
518 2nd St. SE
Minneapolis, MN

@ The Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis, MN
mnartists.org 612.375.7611

www.mnartists.org
www.festivalofappropriation.com

This month long event in November 2007 will bring together collage, assemblage and mixed media artists, working with two and three dimensional visual collage and assemblage, along with works of audio and video collage, to celebrate the art of appropriation. The event will feature an exhibition at The Soap Factory, a film screening and an art lab at The Walker Art Center, as well as a special curated feature on mnartists.org website and in November’s Access+ENGAGE e-magazine, focusing on the art of appropriation.

Additionally, renowned Hip-Hop producer and collage artist, Steinski, will perform at the opening reception at the Soap Factory. Steinski first achieved notoriety, with partner Double Dee, in the early 1980s, for a series of sample-based collages known as "The Lesson Series." Forced to remain largely underground, due to his use of copyrighted material, Steinski went on to produce a number of classic collages and influence countless artists, including Coldcut, DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist and The Avalanches. www.myspace.com/steinski

Appropriation is an important historical practice in art-making, in which the artist uses a previously existing form, image or sound in new ways. The creative effort is defined by the inspired selection and manipulation of found materials. The end result is a strangely familiar, yet altogether new creation.

FOA Opening Reception @ The Soap Factory
Friday, November 2nd
7pm-Midnight
Exhibition featuring artists working in collage, assemblage, mixed media, video and sound. Live performance by Steinski.

Star Tribune Art Lab @ The Walker
Thursday, November 29th
5 – 9 pm / Free
Circuit Bending Workshop with Beatrix*JAR
Beatrix*JAR will perform at 7:30

Uso Justo @ The Walker
Walker Art Center Lecture Room
Thursday, November 29th
8:00pm / Free
Screening of Coleman Miller’s “Uso Justo”, 2005.

Festival of Appropriation Closing Party Featuring Beatrix*JAR CD Release
@ The Kitty Cat Klub
Friday, November 30th
9pm / Free
Closing Party featuring Beatrix*JAR, Ghostband, and DJ Bach.

The Festival of Appropriation is presented by mnartists.org and curated by Some Assembly Required’s Jonathan Nelson and l’etoile magazine’s Kate Iverson.

mnartists.org is a project of the McKnight Foundation and the Walker Art Center.

Press Contact: Kate Iverson kate@letoilemagazine.com 612-296-1811

PRESS

2010-08-03T11:52:00.016-05:00

Click on link below for articles:

Beatrix*Jar: Hacking Away at MCASD - 2010

Audio Collageists Beatrix*JAR Play M.I.A. - 2010

Video Pick: Beatrix JAR - Music - A.V. Video - The A.V. Club Twin Cities - 2010

City Pages: Beatrix*JAR

Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog: Bending Circuits with Beatrix*JAR

City Pages: Gimme Noise - Beatrix Jar and Military Special at Turf Club - 2008

The Buchtelite: University of Akron - Duo Make Music with Recycled Toys

MN Daily.com: Circuit Bending is Electric Rainbow High Five Explosion! - 2008

University of Minnesota Wake Magazine: Interview with Beatrix*JAR - 2008

Erie Times News: Sound Bending Steals the Stage - 2008

City Pages: Get Bent Electro Wizards Beatrix*JAR

Bent in the US and Ether in the UK and US

Utne Reader: The Solid State of Circuit Bending

Honolulu Star Bulletin: Collage of Sound

City Pages Slideshow: Bent Festival at Intermedia Arts

City Pages: The Fifth Annual Bent Festival

Southwest Journal: Circuit Benders

Pittsburgh City Paper: Beatrix*JAR brings "fuzzy sound collage" to the Warhol - 2008

Eagan Sun Current: Toying with new sounds - 2008

Beatrix*JAR: MN Spin "This Weeks Playlist" - 2008

Maximum Fun (Online): Interview with Beatrix*JAR - 2007

Create Digital Music (Online): Golden Fuzz Review & Beatrix*JAR Interview - 2007

City Pages: Circuits Berzerkus - 2007

We Heart Music (Online): Golden Fuzz Review - 2007

Westword Denver: Untitled Series - 2007

GETLOFI.Com: Workshops 101 (An Interview with Beatrix*JAR) - 2007

Some Assembly Required: Beatrix*JAR Interview - 2007

We Heart Music: Beatrix*JAR and Bat for Lashes - Review, Video Clip - 2007

City Pages: Get Bent - Circuit Bending at the Bent Festival (2007)

Minnesota Public Radio: Beatrix*JAR Short Circuits the Music 2006

How was the show: Beatrix*JAR with Canadian at MN Museum of American Art

CIRCUIT BENDING FAQ

2008-10-15T12:45:00.023-05:00

Beatrix*JAR gave their final public Circuit Bending Workshop at Noisebridge in San Francisco on January 27, 2010. The following page highlights some information that may be useful to you as you take your own journey through Circuit Bending.

KIDS TOYS - ADULT NOISE
Circuit Bending is addictive and anyone can do it...even you!

"It's very Zen." - Student

"Circuit-Bending opened the door for me to so many artistic possibilities in the world of sound. Who knew?" - Student

WHICH TOYS DO I BUY?
Plastic, battery-powered children's toys that make sound. You know the ones! They sing happy little songs or recite their ABC's. They are usually colorful keyboards, drum machines or little talking machines - they always make noise and should always have a battery compartment.

Some Advice: Circuit Bending embraces creative destruction - benders take apart toys, manipulate the circuit boards and drill into their plastic shells. In other words when purchasing items to bend – it’s okay to save your money. We encourage you to begin bending with less expensive items. Once you are more comfortable with the process you can make a choice to use higher quality gear.

WHERE DO I FIND THESE TOYS?
Thrift stores, Rummage Sales, Children's Consignment Shops (a bit more expensive), Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Online Auction Sites, Craigslist...

Some Advice: If you are planning a shopping trip for toys take a pair of AA batteries and a screwdriver with you. Sometimes toys are broken or battery compartments are corroded and you will feel really cool pulling out a screwdriver and a pair of batteries to test a toy. We promise!

SOME COMMON BENDABLE TOY MANUFACTURERS:
V-Tech
Leap Frog
Casio
Texas Instruments
Yamaha
Playskool

ANYTHING ELSE?
Extra Batteries! Batteries can be purchased cheaply at discount and Dollar Stores like: Dollar General, Family Dollar, etc. You may also consider rechargeable batteries.

WHAT AGE IS CIRCUIT BENDING SUITABLE FOR?
Circuit Bending is suitable for adults and children 12 and up.

CAN I GET ELECTROCUTED?
No. Beatrix*JAR advises students to work only with BATTERY POWERED DEVICES.

DO I HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT ELECTRONICS TO PARTICIPATE?
No prior electronics experience is needed! Just come with an open mind and a pair of open ears!

HOW ABOUT BATTERY RECYCLING?
Visit: http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/batteries.php to learn about battery recycling.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES
We usually order our circuit-bending supplies online. Local shops like Radio Shack tend to be a bit more expensive ($4.00 a switch at Radio Shack compared to $.29 online).

Check out these sites for deals:

MPJA
www.mpja.com

BENT-TRONICS
www.bent-tronics.com

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BOOKS

CIRCUIT BENDING: BUILD YOUR OWN ALIEN INSTRUMENT - Reed Ghazala

HANDMADE ELECTRONIC MUSIC - Nic Collins

MAKE MAGAZINE: A magazine for any kind of D.I.Y.

ERIE ART MUSEUM CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SERIES - 2007

2008-08-23T21:49:00.011-05:00

Beatrix*JAR was featured at the Erie Art Museum in the Winter of 2007 as a part of the museum's Contemporary Music Series. Beatrix*JAR's visit included press opportunities, several circuit bending demonstrations, workshops and a performance.

Tuesday, AM
40 min. Circuit Bending Workshop / Demonstration and Lunch with a Local Class
Beatrix*JAR demonstrated Circuit Bending for a group of middle school students then joined the group for lunch at a local restaurant.
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Tuesday, Afternoon
Circuit Bending Demonstration - Local School Groups
The Erie Art Museum invited several school groups to a circuit bending demonstration with Beatrix*JAR.
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Tuesday, Evening
Circuit Bending Workshop - Open to Public
Beatrix*JAR taught a two hour Circuit Bending Workshop at the Erie Art Museum Annex.
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Wednesday, Day
Circuit Bending Demonstrations - Local School Groups
The Erie Art Museum invited several school groups to a circuit bending demonstration with Beatrix*JAR.
______________________________________

Wednesday, PM
Beatrix*JAR Performance, Erie Art Museum Annex
A performance / circuit bending demonstration followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

____________________________________

PRESS
Beatrix*JAR on Erie's Morning News -WSEE

ERIE TIMES NEWS
Art of the Circuit Bender - by John Chacona

FEEDBACK
Beatrix*JAR at Erie Art Museum 2008
"We enjoyed having you - you're infectious!" - Tammy Roche, Erie Art Museum

MORE IMAGES
Beatrix*JAR at Erie Art Museum on Picasa

BLAFFER GALLERY - UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

2008-08-23T21:26:00.007-05:00

Beatrix*JAR and Blaffer
On Thursday, September 18, 4 - 7 p.m., the Blaffer Student Association (BSA) hosts the semi-annual Red Block Bash, an interdisciplinary arts celebration held since 2005. For the first time, Fresh Arts Coalition partners with us to provide entertainment, and the Bash will be concurrently with a university-wide Arts Open House. Starting with spring's sound-mixing workshop featuring Beatrix JAR, the Bash has been expanded to bring visiting artists to our students.
___________________________________________

Blaffer Student Association to Host Red Block Bash: Minneapolis-based sound duo Beatrix*JAR to headline event.

HOUSTON, Texas - April 22, 2008 - Blaffer Student Association (BSA), in conjunction with Blaffer Gallery, is pleased to present one of the University of Houston's hottest block parties. The Red Block Bash will take place on Thursday, April 24, in the Fine Arts Courtyard on the University of Houston's central campus, from 4 until 7 p.m. The party will feature refreshments, a scavenger hunt and live entertainment from the Minneapolis-based sound duo Beatrix*JAR. The Bash is free and open to the public.

The two individuals that make up Beatrix*JAR, Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR), tout themselves as "fuzzy sound collage" and teach circuit bending workshops. In their workshops, the pair guides students in dismantling low-voltage electronic toys to create sound art by short-circuiting the wires. No experience or instruments are necessary - the duo will provide tools and select devices including radios, keyboards and Speak & Spells, the talking Texas Instruments educational toys first created in the 1970s to help children learn to read.

The workshops will occur at 4 and 5 p.m. With space going fast, students will need to sign up by e-mailing BSA president Laura McGrath at lauraleemcgrath@gmail.com. Following the workshops, Beatrix*JAR will perform their own sound collage at 6 p.m.

"The Bash has been immensely popular among the student body since the inception of the BSA. With Beatrix*JAR headlining the event, we're expecting one of the largest turnouts the Bash has ever seen," explained Katherine Veneman, the curator of education at Blaffer Gallery. "Beatrix*JAR has performed and led workshops at a slew of museums across the country, all to rave reviews, and we're excited to host them," she added.

INFORMATION
Beatrix*JAR provided a Circuit Bending Workshop and Performance as a part of this outdoor party. Students enjoyed free food and beer.

IMAGES
Beatrix*JAR at Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston - Picasa

WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Ohio State University

2008-08-23T12:36:00.032-05:00

BEATRIX*JAR RETURN TO THE WEXNER

Back by popular demand! Beatrix*Jar led a teen program last year, and the response was so great that we’ve brought them back and added workshops for all ages. Choose the one that’s right for you, but remember, advance registration is required for all workshops.

Click on image below for press release.

ABOUT:
The Wexner Art Center hosted Beatrix*JAR for a five-day residency in April 2008. The Wexner offered Circuit Bending Workshops in several different packages targeting different demographics with their different titles and descriptions:
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April 2nd: wexLab: Electronic Toy Tones with Beatrix*JAR

Teens ages 14 to 18 create their own artwork and explore the Wexner Center's diverse artistic programs in these workshops. Beatrix*Jar, a Minnesota-based duo, show you how to connect sonic shortcuts and expose new sounds in your old toys.
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April 3rd: Technology Tunes: Science and Art Make Beautiful Music

Learn a popular new do-it-yourself art form called “circuit-bending” in this two-part workshop taught by Beatrix*Jar, a Minnesota-based music duo.

Using metaphors and experimental techniques common to the arts and sciences, the workshop enables anyone to take part in the discovery of hidden sounds in battery-powered electronic toys recycled from thrift stores, garage sales, or your own basement. You’ll be able to see the techniques in action and practice teaching your new skills at a public workshop with Beatrix*Jar the next weekend (Sat, Apr 5).

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April 4th: Gen Wex Presents - Circuit Benders

Why should kids have all the fun? This evening workshop for grown-ups is part of our ongoing GenWex initiative.

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April 5th: Young Arts: Noisy Toys

For ages 8–13 with parent or guardian. Kids will discover the joy of dismantling old toys and uncovering hidden sounds in this do-it-yourself workshop.

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April 5th: wexLab: Electronic Toy Tones with Beatrix*JAR

Includes pizza and a performance by Beatrix* Jar at 4 pm, followed by the workshop 5–7 pm. Learn how to connect sonic shortcuts and expose new sounds in old toys.

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FEEDBACK

"Bianca and Jacob are charming teachers. They have garnered the full attention of groups from every age bracket, even rowdy groups of middle-schoolers, and then launched them into excited experimentation. Beatrix*Jar have created a comfort zone for people to try things they might not otherwise have done, and then bring out their own reflections to bring closure to what they have learned." - Kendra Meyer, Wexner Center for the Arts

MORE IMAGES
Beatrix*JAR at Wexner on Picasa

ERIE ART MUSEUM, Erie, PA

2008-08-23T10:54:00.023-05:00

Beatrix*JAR at the Erie Art Museum - Five Day Residency
Funded in part by Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program.

PRESS RELEASE
Have you ever heard something visual? Well, you will when the Minneapolis-based musical duo Beatrix JAR returns to Erie to perform in this year’s Festival lineup. Beatrix JAR—which is Bianca Pettis and Jacob Roske—entertained crowds in 2007 when they performed as part of the Erie Art Museum’s Contemporary Music Series. They eschew normal instruments, creating songs from sound collages of unique beats, noises, radio signals and samples. While it seems they are standing over a DJ table, there are no turntables to be seen. Instead, there is an array of old kids’ toys, cheap keyboards, and other sound-emitting devices for “circuit bending”.

According to Roske, “Circuit bending is a do-it-yourself sound art which allows you to discover new hidden organic sounds in battery-powered electronic toys recycled from homes, thrift stores, secondhand shops and garage sales.” Like many experimental musicians, Beatrix JAR has found its audiences in art galleries and other unconventional, alternative spaces.

CIRCUIT BENDING WORKSHOP
Beatrix JAR will conduct a week of workshops for kids ages 12 to 18 years old at the Erie Art Museum, 411 State Street, daily from Tuesday, July 29 to Friday, Aug 1, from 3 to 5 p.m. Beatrix JAR will teach participants how to make electronic sound collages and “hot-wire” old toys to make new sounds. Participants will perform with Beatrix JAR at the Festival on Saturday, Aug 2. Cost for the workshop is $20 and attendance at all five workshop sessions is mandatory.

The public also can catch Beatrix JAR in mini-performance at 12 p.m. during the Erie Art Museum’s Mid-Day Art Break on Wednesday, July 30 on the Museum’s front steps, 411 State Street or come to their FREE kid's concert at the Museum Annex, 423 State Street at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 31st.

Click on image above for advertisement.
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MEDIA COVERAGE

Beatrix*JAR was featured on the WSEE Morning News, a WQLN radio interview and an article in the Erie News Times. There was also a commercial circulating about the event on the local PBS Station.
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PERFORMANCES

Mid-Day Art Break
Beatrix*JAR was featured at the Erie Art Museum Mid-Day Art Break. Each Wednesday during the summer months the museum invites the public to have lunch on it's stairs while enjoying live musical performances. (Note: It rained during the Beatrix*JAR residency so the performance took place indoors.)

School Age Performance
The museum invited school-aged children and their parents to attend an afternoon performance with Beatrix*JAR. During this event Beatrix*JAR demonstrated the circuit bending process and did a live performance.

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CIRCUIT BENDING WORKSHOP

For four days from 3pm to 5pm in the Erie Art Museum Annex, Beatrix*JAR conducted a circuit bending workshop. Participants included the same a group of students each day and the occasional passer-by.

Beatrix*JAR worked with students to circuit bend machines and create new composition for a final performance at the Erie Art Museum Jazz and Blues Festival.

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ERIE JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE

Beatrix*JAR opened the Erie Jazz and Blues Festival with an experimental music performance that included two of the students from the workshop and the machines they created during the week.

The performance was followed by an hour long Beatrix*JAR performance.
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FEEDBACK
Sound Bending Steals the Stage: Erie Times News

MORE IMAGES
Beatrix*JAR at Erie Art Museum on Picasa Web

WALKER ART CENTER - Culture Camp

2008-08-23T10:44:00.004-05:00

"We know what music should sound like, but what COULD it sound like?"

SETTING: Walker Art Center Culture Camp
Spend a day at each of five cultural arts organizations: the Children’s Theatre Company, the Walker Art Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Zenon Dance Company. Work with artists at each site to create original sound experiments, performances, prints, handmade books, and dances.

At the Walker, join sound-art duo Bianca Pettis and Jacob Aaron Roske of Beatrix*JAR to make nontraditional musical instruments, produce experimental electronic music with circuit-bent machines, and go on an audio scavenger hunt.

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DETAILS:
Camp was three days, 9am - 3pm with a different group of students each day. Beatrix*JAR engaged students with several sound art exercises including analog tape machine recordings, live performance that illustrated concepts in audio appropriation and an Audio Scavenger Hunt through the Walker Art Center galleries and grounds.

Beatrix*JAR also introduced students to circuit bending, assigned toys and encouraged students to search for sounds on their own machines. The students where also invited to decorate their machines. Supplies for decoration included spray paint, glitter glue, fur, tiles, paint pens, etc...

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FEEDBACK
"The comments I'm getting back from parents are very positive in regards to the circuit bending workshop. It was many of the kids favorite activity! Even if those days presented challenges, I think you guys worked through them well and your great interactions with the kids, positive personalities, and passion for sound will leave a lasting impression on the students. You certainly opened up their minds to a new world of creativity, and that's huge." - Ashley Duffalo, Walker Art Center

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MORE IMAGES
Beatrix*JAR Walker Art Center Culture Camp on Picasa