Hellos and thoughts on radio
A short note on radio, my book Net Works, and Critique as Gift activities.
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Hi friend,
It's been a while! I realised while going to write this that I had written incomplete letters back in October and January. I was inspired to write this by my local radio show, CKDU 88.1 over here in Halifax. I turned it on tonight while beginning dinner to tune into their jazz show – hosted by a young-sounding university student name Marianna. She was talking about how she got into doing this and how nervous she had been while doing her first live show that had been a bit rough… but how much she now enjoyed her Tuesday afternoons, alone in the studio with music, and sometimes sun coming in through the window.
But she's not alone– she's here in my kitchen while I cook some spaghetti for dinner and an experimental cocktail. That's the power of radio, I suppose. I think again of the quote, "sound is touch at a distance".
I feel like radio is having a bit of a moment as form of publishing, and I wonder if it's because of this effect of projection across space.
I've been interested in a collective and publisher, Robida, based in the tiny town of Topolò/Topolove with 22 inhabitants (at least, according to their Soundcloud). They also have occasional radio broadcasts of ambient sounds and conversations, or a 'drawing in sound' like this where it feels like you're sitting beside someone as they draw on paper. Here's how they describe the Robida Radio:
Radio stations are many times place and community makers. Besides being aethereal – as the voice of the speakers – they many times happen to be physical spaces for people to gather. They are means to cultivate communities. The paradox of starting a radio station in an almost uninhabited village on the mountains opens many fertile questions about Robida’s community and its relation to this specific margin where Robida works and partly lives. How would it be possible to combine a hyper-specificity, which Robida is fond of, with the will of being relevant for those who are far away from us?
How do we stay relevant for those who are far away from us? It's been three years since I moved to Nova Scotia, and while I'm becoming a part of communities here, I'm also aware of my ties to communities in Ontario stretching further. The internet doesn't do presence very well. Yet while this letter isn't radio, I like the idea of dropping into your mailbox, whenever or wherever you open this, to say hi and join you for a moment.
LungA, an artist-run school in Iceland, ran a course centred around a 'radio art'. They write:
Over the years, we have become infected with Radio
That is: we have become blessed/cursed with
magic of the radio room
the intimacy of a community of listeners
the attention in conversation
an attention to the “third being” that comes alive
when radio is and we are
I shared the print version of my thesis work, Net Works, at a recent show in February– I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! The website version is special in that it manifests as a network – which is a major theme in the work – which you can explore through links. But it's also been especially nice to craft a more sequential experience of the work. I still have copies if you're interested– Net Works, printed 5 x 7", 151 pages, softcover, 20$ CAD + shipping (or if you're in Halifax, or Toronto in June, lmk).
My friend and collaborator Laura and I have also been continuing with our Critique as Gift project, and recently had an article published in the Canadian Art Teach Journal Issue 21.1 about our conference workshop and thoughts. We also hosted two gatherings at each of our apartments with friends who generously shared their work, and we'll be hosting a series of three public crits this spring/summer! We'll be continuing to explore variations on Liz Lerman and John Borstel's Critical Response Process framework. If you're in Halifax this summer, or know someone here who would be interested, share this link with them! I'm interested to see how sharing this process with a broader audience will go – I'll report back with my findings!
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Do you have a favourite radio station? Have you listened to any local ones recently?
Waving on the wind,
Katherine
Related Links:
Radio Garden - listen to radio around the world (it's a little overwhelming how many there are, but I love the globe interface)
NTS Live - I like that there's always two live streams of music on NTS' homepage, but mostly listen to playlists made by different people. It feels like an oddly AI-free zone of music…
LungA, an artist-run school in Iceland that ran a whole course centred around a 'radio art'
oH Radio of the MA in Graphic Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts