Roth Mobot has been performing musical duets on their own Circuit Bent devices and homemade electronics at galleries, theaters, festivals, bars, social events, clubs, and on the radio since 2005.
They never play the same piece twice, only rehearse in front of a live audience, and always bring new devices "hot off the workbench" to every performance.
They have been featured at:
Roth Mobot was hired as the Circuit Bending Consultants for Collaboraction's highly acclaimed "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" at the Chicago Dramatists, and occasionally were the show's opening act. In 2008 they conducted the first "virtual" Circuit Bent performance by performing live in Chicago and "beaming" their show to the BENT festival in New York City via the Internet. Roth Mobot was nominated for the 2010 Prix Ars Electronica award in the category "Digital Communities."
Their work has been written up in The Chicago Reader, The Chicago Tribune, TimeOut Chicago, Pioneer Press, The Daily Candy, FlavorPill, and numerous blogs. They have been the subjects of multiple video and radio documentaries. |
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Tommy and Patrick were the founders of the The Guild Of Acquired Technology (aka The G.O.A.T.), and were booking Guild lectures, demonstrations, and performances that stressed the ecological responsibility of recycling discarded electronics and e-waste.
They host the annual Midwest Experimental Electronics Showcase in Chicago, a performance and installation platform for new and established artists and inventors from around the country.
Roth Mobot recently hosted the Midwest Inventors Earth Day Virtual Concert, which featured musicians performing from their home studios via the Internet.
They host a weekly community-based experimental electronics symposium featuring a lateral "lateral" teaching approach where all particpants are both teachers and students. The eSymosium is also home to Chicago's only weekly Circuit Bent opn mic, giving experienced musicians a platform on which to test new equipment and new artists a venue to gain performance experience.
Tommy has been at the center of the Circuit Bending movement for over a decade. Along with frequent custom commissions, he has designed and created devices for members of noted musical groups as the Animal Collective, Umphrey's McGee, the Benevento Russo Duo, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, and Mike Gordon of Phish. His specialties include speed bending, mercury switches, capacitor cascades, and rehousing devices in trash-picked containers.
Patrick McCarthy has been conducting Circuit Bending workshops in various Galleries, Schools, Salons, and Corporate Seminars, since 1999. Patrick has conducted workshops and lectures at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, DePaul University, The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Columbia College, The Association for Computing Machinery, Lake Forest Academy, The National Museum of Mexican Art, Accenture Technologies, and recently won the "Best Presentation" award at google's ORD Camp 2010 for his demo of Circuit Bending.
Patrick is the Director of the Chicago-based community arts organization, The Rubber Monkey Puppet Company , curates the Midwest's "Deus Ex Machina" Contraptionism festivals, and teaches the Circuit Bending courses at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. He is also an accomplished painter, exhibiting works in multiple galleries in the Chicago area
Tommy and Patrick make themselves available for any correspondence and questions regarding Circuit Bending, experimental electronics, and any other aeos of the acquired technology arts. They may be reached via their Contact page.
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