Hacking the iTrip with Lea Bertucci and Ed Bear

Monday, February 21st, 6:30 PM
$30 | $20 for DAC members
all materials, include iTrip, are included
Modern low power FM radio transmitters are ubiquitous in the
consumer market and ripe with creative applications. One example is the iPod accessory branded the iTrip. Every generation of this device is
specifically designed for each version of the iPod, leaving previous
iterations of the iTrip obsolete and very cheap!
The act of reprogramming and modifying the iTrip to work without an iPod is a unique and simple introduction to FM transmission and digital
electronics with practical and creative motivations. This workshop
requires no previous knowledge of programming, electronics,
electromagnetism, etc. We will go through the reprogramming process,
from breaking into the casing to reprogramming the chip. At the
conclusion of this three hour workshop every participant will have one
hacked iTrip transmitter. We will demonstrate various uses of the
device including generating feedback, using the transmitter as a
wireless microphone, and altering the range though antenna
manipulation. Additionally, we will emphasize the ease and importance
of repurposing obsolete electronics for creative/subversive actions.

About the Instructors
Ed Bear and Lea Bertucci have performed as a Bass Clarinet and Baritone Saxophone duo for approximately four years under the moniker TwistyCat. TwistyCat's compositions explore themes such as electronic abstraction of acoustic timbre, the bleed between the senses of sight and hearing, post-industrial dissonances, and radio as a vehicle for displacing sound.
Lea Bertucci is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn NY who works with photography, video and sound. She is a 2007 Tierney fellow, a 2009 Smack Mellon Artist in Residence, and has received a degree in
photography from Bard College. The emphasis of her work lies in the
creative description of space, whether through light, movement or sound.
Ed Bear is a musician and engineer working with found electronics, video, transmission and collective improvisation. As an educator and artist, he aims to technologically empower everyone as scientists and magicians and investigate the questionable calibration of human perception. He has toured extensively in North America and Europe as a former member of the group Talibam!; performing at major venues such as Issue Project Room, free103Point9, Tonic, The Montreal Pop Festival, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Duke University. In 2009 and 2010 he received NSF funds to study software defined radio and novel energy
harvesting techniques using ionic polymers and metal composites.