I broke my silence on air and wrote, performed and produced the first in a series of short works- a sequence called 'Audio Outreach (working title)".
The door was open i walked through, said hi to the guys, waited my turn, checked my levels, set up the recorder for the log, faded out the feed from cd, faded in the feed from my laptop, played a Electric Wizard track, faded out laptop and faded in mic 1, read my script off, faded out mic, faded in another Electric Wizard track, drank a glass of rum and cola, cycled home...
Given space and time to have my own way and determined not to follow any format I might be comfortable with, i used the radio to highlight issues of voice, authority, and response that have been bugging me for years.... This first work was cathartic to me for several reasons-
1.) no other sounds apart form one voice: This seemed such a powerful motif to my work- no thrills, no instruments, no effects other than that of one voice- singular, inexperienced, 'plain and simple',demanding attention without having 'a right', 'an answer' or even 'a good reason', knowing that and still speaking up regardless... with questions.... if one is going to question the symbolic and epistemological structures governing thought, speech and media, it is a strategic move to offer an alternative to what can be seen as the embodiment of the institution-'the radio voice', 'proper speech', and 'professional conduct'.
2.) speaking unpleasentries - this script flickers between approaches- incitement, stirring up, antagonizment, accusation, blame, and wonder. The style of 'tyrade' was noted by The Baron, who produces the Rebel Radio Show (Tuesday, 9-10pm), who commented he felt it had something akin to a 70's punk poetry piece, and I recognise that too, and am pleased to imagine my work in that good company- punk's DIY ethic and disregard for power structures are very dear to me. The experiment stood as such- if i speak secrets, if i use the airwaves as a kind of speaking cure- maybe i will purge myself of the ideas that in so many ways keep my a captive- even ideas of emancipation can be driven by conditioning, and for me personally as a writer i hope to deepen approaches and find other angles of attention . '-not seeking to play a part - get a mark, entertain, or cause a scene. Even with a engaging education, i am amazed and confronted often with the smallness of any action beyond its meaning to 'the doer'. The script is a collection of thoughts and ideas lifted from a thousand conversations, and the kind of worries that keep me awake when i need to be sleeping. Late night radio offers a platform for 'shouting at the moon' .
Beginning a series in many ways grounds my cep activities- this is all about process, not product, and committing to making work for every next week gives me the chance to come to creative terms with life's twists and turns a spade being a spade but also a piece of metal, a weight, a word, relationship of signifier to signifed. I get to 'give something back', not just volunteer hours but of myslef, as a writer... I took up the invitation to activate my option of relay in radio's listener/producer relationship.
This was a multi levelled experiment for me- I have not spent time becoming familiar with a microphone or accustomed/comfortable to the idea of doing live radio art. This naivety is good yet uncomfortable- double sided- I have not developed the abhorred radio voice or a performance persona- so my voice was a untried, untrustworthy, full of nerves, a stranger even to me.... This challenge to the myth of the 'right to broadcast' being earned (ie controlled)- something one must be qualified to do- is something present in much of Soundart Radio's programming. The work work and approach to broadcasting practiced there is diverse- the standard is loose, in a way that allows for the greatest possible usage. 'Play' is encouraged- when the generating of the largest amount of profit is not the first priority of a station, the resulting room for play can allow other voices to be heard.
Regarding the consumerist radio model and its treatment of 'natural expression'-:
They work night and day with immense teams and enormous financial means: a cleansing of the body in sound recording, a toilet of the voice, filtering, tapes edited and carefully purified of all the laughs, farts, hiccoughs, salivations, respirations, of all the slag that marks the animal. material nature of the words that come from the human body […] (1993:100) Valere Novarina, French playwright critiques present-day mainstream radio.
This has resulted in a expected voice: one that conforms to the broadcasting norms- to such a degree that its representational element (educated, trustworthy, ladette, 'cheeky' humour) almost relieves the broadcast of need for content- a listener expects nothing new- the same old news and usual banter- bubble gum for the ears, or at least, nothing too challenging-- a upkeeping of status quo that the larger corporations have stock in maintaining. I noted my almost rote fall into a approximation of this voice -one that attempted to ooze confidence- as if I could hide behind the motif of a good accent.
This superiority carried by certain timbres, tones, vocabularies, rhythms of speech is very interesting. Where does it leave folks who speak different, articulate rougher, don't have the words to quite make out what it is the speaker wishes to express, or when it does find its way into the spoken word, a message becomes mired in voice- the contexts carried by a single voice ranging from the subliminal to the nationally excepted and blatant.
I am not in opposition to the Mediated voice –a voice recorded, filtered, effected, edited- these are all motifs used to great effect in arts practice- I think my issue (what my audio outreaches sought to confront on some level) comes from the radio voice being passed off as a natural voice- and this as a method of making a 'real' natural voice (unpracticed, untutored) dirty, clumsy, rough, hard to listen to and so quickly rejected. The practiced clarity and unchallenging melodics of the radio voice have become the norm...
A friend said on hearing this work- “You sound both intelligent and common at the same time.”- this pleased me very much. I am most definitely common! This work was a articulation of some very common concerns- ones that I am aware are shared, but are rarely voiced in polite society- (as if we have trained ourselves to ignore the abysmal social situation and except a society built upon swindle and a sham.) The elephant in the room? And radio's place in this is- a dynamic and 'live' media, a publicly accessible 'speaker's corner' a site of exposition, art, debate, sharing, that is so often kept restrained by its financiers' desires, its producers' lack of vision, and its listeners' complicity.
I know I rant- if the rest of the world were fine and happy, I’d be content to keep my studies tied up in academic and artistic circles (understood, valued)- but the majority of the world is either being abused or involved in abuse- and dragging society in general towards a dark place.... It is my desire to engage in change.
“Languages of desire invent new means and have an unstoppable tenancy to lead straight to action; they begin by 'touching', by causing laughter, by provoking, and then they make one want to 'go towards', towards those who speak and towards the stakes that concern them.” 87 Free Radio.
I chose the title to this series with a mind to this 'motional' aspect of Guattari's statement- I respond to the touch of other's work (Diamanda Galas, Christof Migone, Sunn o)), ) by making work- moving towards- responding.
Guattari, commenting on the free radio projects of the late 1970's, wrote “It is in this context of experimenting with a new type of direct democracy that the question of free radio is inscribed. Direct speech, living speech, full of confidence, but also hesitation, contradiction, indeed even nonsense, is the vehicle of desire’s considerable burdens. And it is always this aspect of desire that spokesmen, commentators, and bureaucrats of every stamp tend to reduce, to settle.87 Free Radio. This work articulates something for me- for one- maybe for others- for Soundart Radio? For the possibilities of radioart (put it in the art bracket and its safer from censure, more excusable....)
when I was writing this script I considered the voices of those that were excluded from the radio- those living in dictatorships, or such poverty that accessible arts practice were beyond their means?
Such a powerful media, in my hands! I thought about Simone De Bouviour's idea of art practice as a privilege- and the relationships between art and responsibility.
highlighting for further investigation:
projected audiences/ absence of critic/ disregard of standards
sandwich material-placement of works in works /relations /supportive work
there is always something else for investigation! YAY!
