“An Apple A Day” is an attempt to circuit bend / automate one toy everyday for a month, up a maximum of 31 toys, all of which will be accessible as musical instruments for the public to play, perform and record in their own music.

Childrens’ toys are often seen as transitional objects that let the child gain mastery of the world around them. Paradoxically “Childhood Remixed” seeks to re-purpose the toys of Pixelh8’s childhood with the skills and understanding of the world he has as an adult. By rewiring, re-purposing and re-using them he will essentially be remixing his own childhood to form an orchestra of automated toys and interactive instruments.

Scouring the local car boot sales, charity shops and in some cases rubbish bins, Pixelh8 was able to reclaim some of the toys that informed him musically and creatively as a child, by re-working them with new acquired skills it will in turn create a learning curve that folds back on itself.

Childhood Remixed was commissioned by Ipswich Borough Council & Turnstone Arts Grants sponsor Ip-art Award 2007- 2010 and will be on display in Town Hall Galleries from May 29th to July 12th as part of the Ip-art festival.

“Beat Unboxed” is a real time musical toy sequencer, allows people to sequence some of the crazy toys in the exhibition. Using an Arduino, a PC, lots of relays, toys and Processing, simply clicking on the the various colour blocks you can trigger off different sounds in this 16-step sequencer to make up your own songs with. Be sure to also check out Warranty Void a circuit bent NES you can play and bend at the same time.

Childrens’ toys are often seen as transitional objects that let the child gain mastery of the world around them. Paradoxically “Childhood Remixed” seeks to re-purpose the toys of Pixelh8′s childhood with the skills and understanding of the world he has as an adult. By rewiring, re-purposing and re-using them he will essentially be remixing his own childhood to form an orchestra of automated toys and interactive instruments.

Scouring the local car boot sales, charity shops and in some cases rubbish bins, Pixelh8 was able to reclaim some of the toys that informed him musically and creatively as a child, by re-working them with new acquired skills it will in turn create a learning curve that folds back on itself.

Childhood Remixed was commissioned by Ipswich Borough Council & Turnstone Arts Grants sponsor Ip-art Award 2007- 2010 and will be on display in Town Hall Galleries from May 29th to July 12th as part of the Ip-art festival.

Childrens’ toys are often seen as transitional objects that let the child gain mastery of the world around them. Paradoxically “Childhood Remixed” seeks to re-purpose the toys of Pixelh8′s childhood with the skills and understanding of the world he has as an adult. By rewiring, re-purposing and re-using them he will essentially be remixing his own childhood to form an orchestra of automated toys and interactive instruments.

Scouring the local car boot sales, charity shops and in some cases rubbish bins, Pixelh8 was able to reclaim some of the toys that informed him musically and creatively as a child, by re-working them with new acquired skills it will in turn create a learning curve that folds back on itself.

As part of the project Pixelh8 has re-created the very experiment / accident that brought him into the world of chip tune and circuit bending, a circuit bent a Nintendo Nes, this is one of several audio and visual pieces that the public are actively encouraged to interactive and create with.

Childhood Remixed was commissioned by Ipswich Borough Council & Turnstone Arts Grants sponsor Ip-art Award 2007- 2010 and will be on display in Town Hall Galleries from May 29th to July 12th as part of the Ip-art festival.

For more information on Pixelh8 or “Childhood Remixed” visit pixelh8.co.uk

These are the early production shots from the piece “Warranty Void” from “Childhood Remixed“, the piece is a circuit bent Nintendo NES. For me when I was around twelve this was my first experience with both chip tune music and circuit bending, after a “traumatic” accident involving my NES I believed I could fix it so I broke it open and started poking the the screwdriver in various places whilst it was still turned on to see what would happen, very dangerous in hindsight. I learned from that early experimentation I was able to freeze a sound or tone, turn some sounds on or off and scramble the graphics.  It was really good to “go back” and recreate that initial encounter with that machine and the very moment that got me into the music I make. The piece will be on display in the Town Hall Galleries May 29 – July 11th as part of my “Childhood Remixed” project, allowing people to have a hands on experience of circuit bending and alter the graphics and sound without the risk of electrocution.

Childrens’ toys are often seen as transitional objects that let the child gain mastery of the world around them. Paradoxically “Childhood Remixed” seeks to re-purpose the toys of my childhood with the skills and understanding of the world I have as an adult.

By rewiring, re-purposing and re-using them I will essentially be remixing my childhood to form an orchestra of automated toys, a learning curve that that folds back on itself.

The interactive pieces will be on display in the Town Hall Galleries, Ipswich between May 29th- July 11th, 2010.  Alongside the main pieces I will also be running workshops and giving talks about my work.

The pieces were commissoned by Ipswich Borough Council & Turnstone Arts Grants sponsor Ip-art Award 2007- 2010 and I am very grateful to be exhibiting this project in my home town. Join the Facebook event page here.

Very pleased to announce I am the winner of the Ip-art Award for Visual Art. I have been very fortunate to have worked with Town Hall Galeries with Ip-art workshops in the past, but to have the opportunity to create an entirely new work for display is a big step for me. The project “Childhood Remixed” will have me scouring the local car-boot sales to find items from my childhood and yours, to create an entirely new work, accompanied by workshops, lectures and more. “Childhood Remixed” will be an automated orchestra of toys from my childhood utilising the skills I have learnt as an adult to bring them to life.

The piece will be on display in the Town Hall Galleries from May 29th – July 11th and forms part of Ip-art 2010, with special events announced nearer the time.

The award is provided by Turnstone and Ipswich Borough Council Arts Grants and I am very pleased to be given the opportunity to do a project such as this in my home town.

Come and join the Facebook event page here.