Ed Bear [b. 1983] is an American performing artist and engineer working
with robotics, sound, video, transmission and collective improvisation. As an
educator and designer committed to an open source world, he researches and practices
material reuse as a civil responsibility. Since receiving his B.S. In Electrical
Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, Ed Bear has provided freelance
design, manufacturing and engineering services to start-ups, acclaimed artists and
musicians, film and theater productions, and leading education institutions. As a
research specialist at the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, he investigated technology-neutral, commercially viable solutions to
dimming and control of emerging solid state lighting systems for multiple markets
with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Alliance for
Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies. He is currently working with
littleBits, Inc. to revolutionize modular electronics. He has toured extensively in
North America and Europe as a performer and teacher, working with organizations such
as The Mattress Factory, The Montreal Pop Festival, Oberlin Conservatory of Music,
and Moogfest. In 2009 and 2010 he received National Science Foundation and other
funds to study e-waste streams as educational resources, software defined radio, and
energy harvesting. He is a 2017 Signal Culture Toolmaker-in-residence, a 2017
Harvestworks EARS , a 2016 Unit 11, 2015 WaveFarm, and 2012 LMCC SwingSpace
artist-in-residence, 2010 free103point9 AIRtime fellow and received the 2008
Roulette Emerging Composer Commission. His music is available on Peira, Azul
Discographica, Ever/Never, Roar Tapes, and several other record labels. “Like James
Chance and John Cage” – Lucy Tcherno Ivanenko, Magia Roja “Utopian, Bear’s work is
an exercise in what is possible while it remains an illustration of the impossible”
– Mary Billyou, Brooklyn Rail @exitrip – tw, ig
https://brooklynrail.org/2017/03/film/Mixed-Use-ESP-TVs-Unit-11
