- Experimental
- Radiophonic
- Trippy
To listen to Shortwave AM Radio is a practice of scavenging, harvesting and collecting; and one that I engage in for a very long time. It involves a specific attention from the ear and it implies the presence of one’s whole body to be receptive to the improbabilities of the ether. It is a game of control; how to maintain it and how much to give it up.
Whatever is present in the airwaves is fleeting, this performance is an attempt to linger with unexpected and volatile sonic material, making myself part of an apparatus, a vessel that permits the ether to be made embodied. It is a probe to allow for a sound composition to arise from what is delivered by the shortwave broadcasts, gambling with the risks of the unexpected behaviours of the waves, attaching myself to the ether to bring forth what the ear wants to spent more time with.
Shortwave Fugue #2 is a Radio program; it’s the Live transmission of the performance/installation taking place at Cashmere Radio. It consists of capturing sounds from AM broadcasts via three Shortwave Receivers and using these unpredictable sounds as improvisational composition material. The presence of the room and the inputs of the artist are also broadcasted, materialising the Shortwave sounds with the presence of the operator and the context of the performance.
In order to improve the reception of the Shortwave bands in which the performance focus its exploration, four antennas are used; two Magnetic Loop antennas and two Dipole (straight stretched wire) antennas. The Loop antennas are kept close to the performer (they can be indoors) and the Dipoles are to be kept outdoors; for this reason, the piece works best if performed outdoors or close to the window of a venue. The ideal situation is a rooftop.
All these antennas are supposed to be visible as they complete the apparatus of sound searching.
Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR.
