He’s built an open-source, retro-tinged 8-bit sampler, “Where’s the Party At?” (I’m been building the second generation now, so expect a review by early August.) He’s had electronic instrument designs on shelves at the retail chain Target and on the walls of the Whitney Art Museum in New York. He just completed a set of luxury chandeliers, when he wasn’t making waves in the circuit bending scene. Todd Bailey is the kind of Renaissance artist at the center of the new DIY scene. There was a time when engineers and artists were separate groups, and big laboratories worked how to get them together. Now, they’re the same person, a bundle of creative power.
If that makes you feel intimidated, don’t be: an overwhelming common theme as we gathered Todd and other DIYers last month at the Solid Sound Festival was that almost no one in the scene planned to wind up doing what they were doing. Instead, an appetite for new sounds and lots of trial and error led them to teach themselves, aided by wealths of information and communities in sharing.
Todd has done a terrific interview for Art:21, a real champion for new and experimental visual art in the US, in a scene that often lacks the kind of quality independent, non-commercial TV and Web reporting the outfit does. Adding to Todd’s badass aura is the fact that he’s picked up some “gnarly” (his description) injuries from a bike accident. (The US needs better bike infrastructure, too, but we’re working on it.)
We’ll have more thoughts from Todd and others this month as I share video from Solid Sound, but I’ll let Art:21 get the first word:
A Good Engineer [interview w/Todd Bailey] [Art:21 Blog]
And for the sampler, see Todd’s site:
http://narrat1ve.com/
