For more than ten years now I, your boy Big Pauper, have been creating multimedia art with hacked gaming consoles. “Choose Your Villains: Corrupt Gaming Works Vol 1” from BPMC is a deluxe 30 minute VHS release showcasing numerous released and unreleased single channel multimedia pieces from 2010-2020.
Admittedly part of the initial corrupt gaming allure for me was the NBD (never been done) status of so many common gaming systems. CGW Vol 1 highlights work created with the world’s first circuit bent Sega Saturn, Panasonic 3DO FZ-10, JVC X’Eye, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, Sony Playstation 2 & Sega CD. Bending ego aside, upon approaching these machines as creative tools a whole new world of self-expression opened up to me and an obsession was established.
It’s hard to summarize so many different themes and moments in time but I’d say the overarching goal with a lot of these pieces was to divorce the viewer from the branding and the inherent nostalgia of retro gaming… I was hoping to take the viewer into a vaguely familiar yet abstract world of sight n sound. A lot of the pieces here have never seen the light of day as I’ve had this collection in mind for some while.
Choose Your Villains: CGW Vol 1 is available in a limited quantity and comes with a hand screen printed VHS case, a small riso zine and more polygonal rot than you can shake a stick at. Labor of love style. Thanks everybody for checking out my work. Be well.
Oof! Your boy fell off hard with the updates. My apologies. Ya’ll have kept me running regardless and for that I am forever grateful. Things are movin over here! I’m starting to finally dust off some of my pre-pandemic projects and am happy to announce a couple of things on the very near horizon in Paup-ville.
Guess who’s back?!? The PAUP EYE round two pre-order goes up March 20th at noon pacific time (SHIPS JUNE 1ST). Really I just wanna keep my IG feed full of pretty glitch pics… it’s been a real delight seeing what ya’ll do with these things. I’m only able to facilitate a run of 15 this time and it will be the last run with this camera model……. but don’t fret if you miss out!! I’ve got another glitch camera release in the pipelines.
Remember HDK? I sure do! The facking prototype has been sitting on my desk by the computer for over three years now… ulp!!! Well, this summer I’ll finally be setting the cogs in motion to bring raw 1080p HDMI glitch to your doorstep. This will be my first foray into Kickstarter as the manufacturing commitment on this one isssssss significant… so wish me luck. I’m confident however that if we spread the word folks will come out of the woodwork for this one. The end results are just too good.
As BC/PC supply lines began to dry up I teased the VIDEO NASTY; a worthy analog glitch video successor. The Video Nasty pre-order goes up FOR SURE this April. For the glitchers on a budget I’ve done my damnedest to make sure that all the evil that can be coaxed forth from this circuit is indeed at your fingertips. I’ve even employed a custom CV circuit with internal oscillation that I add to each one. With it’s release a host of swag I’ve been meaning to squeeze out into the ether will finally be available. This includes limited sticker sets, mix tapes…. and *woah* paup-printed t-shirts?!? SHA-BAM!
Last but not least, I’ve been creating content for the new BPMC youtube page that, while delayed, will debut videos this spring. The years are slipping thru my fingers and I wanted to take a chance to both document some of my projects as well as pass on some knowledge to all the folks that have been emailing me asking for tips over the years. I just had to hastily vacate my residence so they are slower to trickle out than I’d like, but I should be back up and running soon. Peace!
First and foremost, thank you all who have supported in the prior months. Your support in these trying times has allowed me to keep BPMC sustainable and for that I am ever grateful. The last couple of months have been a cultural roller coaster ride as you know. From the BPMC side of things it’s been a matter of shifting priorities and rolling with the punches. A number of the manufactured projects that I’ve been working on were of a higher cost in both development & in manufacturing. Ultimately I decided it’s not a good time to hemorrhage money and I put them on hold for the foreseeable future. The focus now has been to get back to my upcycling roots and to offer ya’ll creative tools in an affordable range. With that I’ve dusted off my unreleased glitch cam from a few years back affectionately known as the PAUP EYE.
It should be stated that this release is not without trepidation. I’ve always been on the fence about doing a run of these for a couple reasons. One, people use and abuse pocket cameras in a way they don’t a Fritz Decontroller thus the modified warranty (drop, smoosh, crack? cannot replace). Two, these are slow and clunky tech from 2003. Working with one may be a little less fluid than you’d hope. There is an unpredictability about them and that’s the fun! These are real glitch photos. The magic is occurring at the hardware level and that is something your smart phone can not easily achieve (sorry, broken screens not the same haha). I want folks to have reasonable expectations going into purchasing these things. Third, the modifications decrease battery efficiency and I find that when I go out to shoot with it, it’s best to have 2 or more sets of fully charged rechargeable backups as it gobbles them up rather quickly. DO NOT USE REGULAR AAs. If you do you might as well find that tiny iceberg with the starving polar bear on it and shoot it in the head.
Despite these factors to keep in mind when making your purchase I’ve had a blast using these things over the years. The still images are beautiful, roughly 1-2MBs in size and they can easily be upscaled for print in Photoshop. The video files are extremely lo-res, but are great for building up a multi square video collage in Premier. The inclusion of a power supply and an AV out cable (composite video of course) render it a funny little studio camera furthering it’s usefulness. While in AV OUT mode with your camera outputting to a CRT, you’ve got the option to cycle through a slideshow of your photos or view LIVE SCREEN mode in real time. Please note that it is both cropped a little bit (not filling up the entire screen) and the OSD (showing the flash symbol, shots left & power status) cannot be removed. Another limitation ya just gotta work with here.
The thing that helped me be like “alright, folks should have these” is that my original glitch camera from 2014 was still ticking come 2019. It only left my life when it was stolen along with my 95 honda accord (for the 4th time mind you). Miss that camera more than the car. Knowing the camera in it’s modified form lasted for five years helped ease my mind about this mod being stable or not.
Why modify this camera in particular? It’s one of very few pocket cameras that you can easily enough access the sensor on. Most digital cameras are designed in a way that tucks the points I need access to behind another PCB or LCD screen making it very difficult to modify let alone sew back up. I’ve got boxes of modified cameras in varying stages of undress and the thing that unites them all is the rubiks cube like challenge of sewing them back up after modification. It’s at the point of sewing things up that shit just tends to fall apart. But not with PAUP EYE, it’s like it was meant to be modified.
If you don’t get in on this round of glitch cams worry not, I will be doing a second run next year (Ondes Magnetique style… once a year). Perhaps even with a different make and model if people find these glitch cams to be worth making more of.
You may have noticed a number of pre-orders for other things that ship July 20th, like the Premium & Basic Cable replacement known as Video Nasty. Or perhaps Upcycle 32, the deluxe VHS release that’s also a raffle for my original circuit bent PS1 from 2014 (refurbished for the 2020). Over the days to come I hope to have all these updates finished and launching in synchronicity so please do ol’ Paup a favor and STTTAYYYYY TUNNNNNNEEEDDDDD!
To see more glitch pics from over the years please check out these previous posts:
This one is going to be a game changer! Introducing the revolutionary new BPMC HDK-01 video effects processor for HDMI video mixers. The HDK-01 gives users the beauty of R-E-A-L hardware based glitch video effects and experimentation in 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions. Software HD glitch is all fine and dandy but having corruption to toy with in hardware HDMI land has been a whole nu level for me personally. I’ll be sharing more information about the HDK release in the weeks to come but for now I wanted to show off some real world usage of the HDK-01 and to launch the new channel on the youtoobz.
Been loving the shit out of IC3PEAK over the last couple of years and while this isn’t one of my favorite IC3PEAK songs the video contained a stark white background just ripe for keying and exploitation. This video would be much better handled by Vimeo’s compression algorithm however I’m trying to switch all content over to YT for the twenty twenty and get the new BPMC Glitch Video Channel up, running and full of contain pertaining to video art past present and future. That said, the uncompressed output with the HDK-01 is stunning and truly is a beauty to behold filling me with a sense of optimism comparable to that thirs swig of Bulleit rye. See the stills below for cropped proof. Keep your eyes peeled for more HDK news and new like-n-subscribe nonsense on the toobz. Stay tuned!
If you have a poke around the site you’ll notice a number of machines are up to 30% off for the holiday season. It’s rare BPMC has a sale but I want to get a number of NEW BREED releases funded and in production come early twenty twenty. The only thing holding that up is the cash munnies sunnies. That said, if you’ve ever wanted a deal on some Pauper-power the time is N-O-W. The sale ends Dec 15th and all orders placed within that time are guaranteed to ship within the domestic US by the 21st of December. Domestic customers will also delight in the bonus BPMC Holiday Spectacular VHS tape included on SALE-ITEM orders of 300USD and over. Due to the high price of international shipping I cannot offer this same deal to international customers (however a purchase link will be available under the merch section shortly).
On a side note I’ve been listening to you all in regards to communication, site issues and speed. I’ve been revising the web site to work out some kinks and provide better communication in regards to your orders. I’ve also hired a part-time project manager and an additional soldering gremlin to help me through the holidaze and on into the New Year. This should not only speed up production a bit but make time for more demos and content on the new BPMC Youtube channel and new Instagram (@bpmc_glitch).
Thank you everybody for your support and patience over this last year. Twenty twenty should prove to be an exciting one for fans of BPMC. We’ve got the long-awaited TELEVANDALIST eurorack glitch video effects processor, a number of kits and the cost-effective standalone analog glitch video effects processor, TVC15 (previously known as DD-1). Stay T-U-N-E-D!
Pauper’s always on the grind over here. Just been a little slow with sharing and posting as usual. While it’s been a little delayed (won’t be ready for an early fall pre-order) I’m ready to start letting the cat out of the bag over here. The Televandalist is the next release in the NEW BREED roster here at BPMC. Woo!
The Televandalist follows in the analog glitch video footsteps of the Fluxus Duo yet aesthetically it’s something all together different. The Televandalist caters to a luscious number of vivid looks not yet in the BPMC catalog (well, minimal overlap) and was designed to work well in tandem with the DUO. It’s also been designed with audio reactivity in mind with both a dedicated audio input, band selection and a built in condenser mic. It’s been my dream to walk into a room full of TVs, scream really loud and have them all go on the fritz. One day, one day……
The aesthetic emphasis here is a little less on the sync corruption and more on the possibilities of dreamy ringing artifacts and heavy edge feedback. Where as the last jammer was big on horizontal ringing artifacts this one is big on vertical ringing artifacts! You’ll notice a lot of lovely rainbow ringing artifacts interspersed with pink and yellow bands n all sorts of lovely shit.
I’ll be doing the same thing with this one I’ve done with the Duo. Eurorack and standalone releases. The enclosure for the Duo wound up being a little challenging (and expensive) to do in such a small quantity so I’ll have to wait until the Televandalist is ready to do anymore standlone Duos…….. but alas, I digress.
How about some sneak peaks for ya? Fluid motion video coming at you shortly….. STAY T-U-N-E-D!
Portland, OR is often a hotbed of video art activity and July does not disappoint in those regards. Glitch video luminary, Logan Owlbeemoth of Tachyhons+, will be at the Modular8 synth shop this tuesday July 16th at 8PM for the July edition of VIDEO MIXER. It sounds like Logan brought an army of modified Tachyons+ gear for the occasion and will be hosting both a lecture and a hands-on visual experience. Props to Modular8 for fiercely supporting video art manufacturers over the years and for offering folks the opportunity to test out a number of obscure video processing tools in person. There aren’t a lot of places I can think of that let you just saunter in off the street and noodle with an LZX system or a Premium Cable for hours on end. That said, it sounds like there will be a number of ready-built Tachyons+ devices available so be sure to bring your cash moneys if looking to venture deeper into the lysergic depths of hand-modified glitch visuals. Rumor has it if Logan sells enough gear tonight he’s moving his HQ to Portland!!!!! Bring them megabucks!
To quote Phillip of Modular8:
“You all know how much we love video synthesis here @modular_eight. This event will be the video event of the year here at the shop! I’ve been using both Tachyons + (@tachyonsplus) and BPMC circuit bent instruments a lot- I feed a security camera input into a large LZX system for initial processing then into a Tachyons+ Psychenizer followed by a bent Panasonic AVE 3 (done by Portland’s own Big Pauper Modified Circuitry!) and then into the display via composite or S-Video. I love the organic, fragmentary nature of what these devices do. It’s amazing. These are not easy bends, by the way…. Come by next Tuesday and get hands on experience with these wonderful, hand made processors! We will have some for sale too!”
The event is 21+ as we’ll all be getting drunk off that Videonics…. so don’t bring your children. $10+ at the door. Doors open at 7pm and show starts at 8:30pm and goes late.
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Tachyons+ is an analog video gear hacker who creates unique tools for experimental visual artists around the world from a lab in North Florida. Taking broken electronics from the trash and shaping them into creative production enhancers for use in studio art, live shows, music videos, commercials, graphic design and VJ’ing. These devices built from the past, made new today through the Tachyons+ lab, offer new dimensions in creating visuals and displaying video in forms that reach to an obscure history of forgotten circuitry in hand with a distorted future of color and movement.
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Those that have been following the FLUXUS DUO saga know it’s been a long time in the making. I’ve been working on releasing the first in a series of new glitch video effects processors for well over a year now. All that hard work is about to finally pay off however as I’m putting the order in for the initial run of a hundred units. I hope to have working circuits ready for human consumption come the last week of May (pending delays).
The entire BPMC NEW BREED depends on the success of the FLUXUS DUO and it’s sales are designed to propel the rest of the series out of the shadows and into your video art laboratory. A lot of you are probably still wondering what the heck the FLUXUS DUO is all about….. and that’s valid. As BPMC has ramped up over the last few years of operation I’ve had trouble keeping up with the pace of it all. As you probably know BPMC is a one-man operation. Since the beginning (ten years ago this summer) I’ve been struggling to find the right balance of product development, product demonstrations, customer service and order fulfillment. Throw Folktek in to the mix and shit is certified coo-coo, mannn. A huge thank you to all who have hung in there with their orders and questions… I’m hoping to iron out some long-standing BPMC kinks with the ten year anniversary and keep it moving pauper proper with new tasty treats for the visually inclined.
A little about the FLUXUS DUO. For the DUO I’ve revised the original Fluxus glitch effects processor and slapped two of them on one PCB. From here you can duplicate one source across the two effects processors and concoct interesting blends between them via the CV-controllable modulate parameter. Send it output from LZX Shapechanger, ramps from Visual Cortex or output from Prismastic Ray (to cite a few starting points) and carve out interesting and crude wipe shapes between the two channels. The DUO is composite video only, contains three CV inputs and is of course best utilized by outputting to a CRT TV. You know me, I haven’t even so much as put this thing in the same room as a computer capture device.
Oh, so I meant to highlight a couple of other interesting features of the DUO. I gave folks the option of utilizing a second source dirty-mix style. It was not my intended use for the DUO but I figured some folks might like it. The DUO contains no analog to digital conversion and therefor is not a traditional two channel video mixer. For those familiar with the original FLUXUS ya’ll know the technique…. it’s not so much about turning one knob up and getting an effect, it’s about learning the relationship between knobs and finding interesting combinations of knob levels. It’s funny, there is a weird skill to getting the most out of this thing. I know some might find it challenging but I like the obscure and touchy nature of it. It’s a machine of subtleties and nuance for sure.
Lots more to outline and speak on. I am shooting to have the product page live and ready to go Sunday April 7th at 10pm pacific time. As it stands this pre-order is going to only be for the eurorack version of the Fluxus Duo. I need to get a little closer to having the production schedule for the standalone enclosures in order to feel good about putting it’s pre-order up. Shooting for the following weekend. Thanks kindly videofreex!
It’s not too often I get up on the walls here in my hometown of Portland, OR but this month I’ll be showing off three new dead media themed video installation pieces alongside the talented Winnie Black for the final art exhibition at Grapefruits Art Space. I salute you Grapefruits. Let’s make sure this shit is a party! If there is one thing Grapefruits is known for it’s a goofy good time. Costumes are encouraged as is dancing and drinking red alcoholic beverages. Fortify in mirth and video art merriment before the clouds all descend upon us.
Grapefruits art space is pleased to announce the final show in our 2018 season, GLAZE, featuring new work from Winnie Black and Drew McIntyre. GLAZE includes music videos from Winnie Black (in collaboration with various Portland musicians) and pictures and video installations from Drew McIntyre. Both artists use vintage and repurposed media tools, found materials, and handmade/modified technology to illustrate strange moods and eclectic sounds. GLAZE will be the final show of Grapefruits’ official 2018 season (stay tuned for one more special event before the end of the year), and will feature musical performances and dancing – costumes are STRONGLY encouraged!!!
Please join us for the opening reception of GLAZE on Friday, October 26 from 6-10 pm
at Grapefruits, 2119 N Kerby, STE D, Portland OR 97227
Winnie Black is a multimedia artist who recently collaborated with a collection of Portland musicians to produce a series of music videos. www.winnie.black
Drew McIntyre is a Portland-based dead media artist whose work explores states of subjective and societal dissociation. He has been developing video processing tools as BPMC since 2009.
Post Analog:: Paloma Kop & Sara Goodman Grapefruits Art Space (2119 N Kerby, Suite D) Opening: September 20, 6-9pm Performance on opening night @ 8pm by:: drc // erc Exhibition runs: September 20-October 21 Curated by SarahTurner
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“Just getting the word out about this awesome show at Grapefruits Art Space in Portland, OR. It’s the second to last Grapefruits show ever so be sure not to miss it. It’s the first instance of video art flavors gracing the ol’ fruit walls. Be on the look out for the Grapefruits East Residency coming 2020 in Montpelier, VT.” – Paup!
Press Release:
Within the last 20 years, we’ve seen the transition from analog to digital video tools in the creation and distribution of moving images. Between maker and consumer, there’s always been a collaboration between user and tools, but now we rely less on physical labor and more on access to digital software and platforms.Although there is a long history of analog video creation, within recent years, there’s been an increased resurgence of analog tools to create and distribute newly created video content. A renewed fascination with physical labor. We take a larger role in the collaboration with the machine from the start. We fetishize the passage of time; the destruction of magnetic medium. We aestheticize the failure and decomposition of a tool that always had planned obsolescence. Nostalgia for a past that had an optimistic future.
Now, we master the imperfection and glorify it. Intentionality of destruction; yet generative in its genesis. Paloma Kop and Sara Goodman produce video works of generative materials that they then manipulate through physical analog video processing tools. These time based recordings are both performative and ephemeral. A ghost on the screen, tracking, glitching, transforming. Both Sara and Paloma transcend this art form by creating prints of their works. Using a screenshot to hold onto the chaos. Printing out a screenshot, instead of sharing it online. The progression of glitch from electronics to paper, manifests our ubiquitous perception of technology ruling our world. The tools we use, either analog or digital, manifest metaphysical changes to the way we perceive the world.
About Paloma Kop:
Paloma Kop is an electronic media artist. Her work often takes the form of abstract ambient audio-visual compositions and installations. She combines old-school video broadcast equipment and experimental hardware techniques with digital processes and computer programming, with the goal of producing evolving, self-propagating forms, textures, and environments. She aims to evoke the complexity and mathematical properties of organisms and natural phenomena, and explore distortions of perception and experience. http://palomakop.tv
About Sara Goodman:
Sara Goodman is a new media artist, poet, curator, VJ, and teacher working with new and old tech, forming lifelong friendships and collaborations based off of art-as- way-of-life life practice. Her work is often inspired by pastoral landscapes, abstraction, meaning through repetition, science fiction, obscure subcultures, and broken technologies. Sara received her MFA in poetry from Columbia College Chicago and teaches creative writing and new media classes in the Chicagoland area. http://saranaomigoodman.squarespace.com/
About Grapefruits:
Grapefruits is an artist-run space that features experimental, low-tech, and radical work from emerging artists. Grapefruits’ 2018 programming is supported in part by a grant from the Precipice Fund, the Calligram Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. https://www.grapefruitsartspace.org
BPMC (est. 2009) creates quality custom psychotronic modified glitch video art devices for creative types. A collaborative capitalist enterprise forged between man (Big Pauper) & machine. BPMC is based out of Portland, OR in the United Snakes.