the problem with blogs

I write produce, create, reflect, process, and find i have moved through over a week extremely busy but without documenting a thing! So blogger, again a commitment- any shyness or reluctance to commit to unfinished thoughts must be overcome.... the issue may be that this CEP and soundartradio invite a much more physically active participation than i was expecting- less speculation, more person present and doing ( must make time to get to a computer more often!!). Right here and now, I am sat in a Internet cafe in Borough High street, London, having just met Ed Baxter, the joint-founding director of Resonance FM. His technician Dragos, and volunteer Louise, get a mention here too- friendly people, very happy to be working in radio, their enthusiasm for the station and medium evident. The painful fact that the other volunteer did not offer my a cup of tea, yet served everyone else also stands out! its no hard task to be welcoming...? Ed was kind enough to put up with my meandering conversation for 25 minutes- the difference between soundarts gentle flow and Resonances' very structured high power delivery was apparent- the open plan office received 6 phone calls whilst i was there, Ed dealt with emails, tech issues, performance prep, etc etc. (he said he had not been out for a informal lunch in 7 years). I am a small town country girl (woman? girliness has i fear past :-) and the bustle and focus of this major art radio station was exciting, but not seductive. Ed is not only an artist but a facilitator of the contributing artists, volunteers and all others involved (city scale rather than rural) seeing him juggle inputs and outgoings was quite intense.

- key points

*the building creates community- station as gathering place, meeting point

*£9000, (and a fine piano) raised by weekend of canvassing for donations

*still not enough zooms to go round :-)

*clear spot / open door

x x x

audio outreach *2

audio outreach *2
This work consisted of 2 tracks before and 2 tracks after a reading of a script. All related to place/home/community/physicality.... Ah the splendor of site specific work- it felt good to expose this writing to the airwaves- I used this show as a chance to broadcast over the environs a work which related to its physical Fm reach- something shared, a speech written around and in response to Totnes town and valley, and the on/ off love /hate relationship with a locality I've known since moving here aged 4. The script refers to landmarks both physical and metaphorical, rights of passage, ideas of belonging and ownership, reflecting on the generation of 'self' through geographical placement, and exploring ego through territoriality's.
In the introduction to the script, i refer to the works' sliding tenses- I/me/we/you/our/my/yours- the point of reference is always transforming, as the relationship to place also changes- my needs of 'it', its's demands of me, memories form the past skip along side recent more measured modern perspectives.
I wanted to broadcast something that might locals would be able to relate to directly, and any listeners form further a field might be able to translate to their own experience, or not- this work could be a answer to the age old first question to a stranger- "Where do you come from?"

Once again, it was just me, a microphone, and a couple of tracks on the playout computer- I may end up holding to this model till the end of this CEP- editing audio software still scares me a little- the only instrument i play is railings with a stick.... and i can kinda taste the formings of a dissertation investigating the history of the voice on radio....

FETE WORSE THAN DEATH

Fete worse than death-
if community can be understood best through times of celebration, soundart radios' is very healthy, if slightly gruesome.....

this was a wonderful if wet and blustery day- full of cake and laughter, live music and side shows- a diversity of folks coming up from the local area- though most were indeed already involved with shows or supporters of the station... Nathan Carter and I led a fierce campaign of postering in the town and surrounding areas, but I think most visitors on the day were aware of the event through soundarts' emailing list....

Dartington Hall, and the radio station stand on the top of a hill a mile distant from the town, and even when there is a excellent cinema, a beautiful landscaped garden to stroll, and other arts activities, it is more or less exclusively used by tourists or those that already have established affiliations with artistic community ( I've always enjoyed theatre, music and art, but did not use Dartington for anything other than cinema and garden till i started college there in 2008- it seems a little bit of a blind spot for locals....). I think this is interesting alongside the way that radio can be discovered by accident on the FM range-something lost in digital delivery- a listener might enjoy a programme but not know from where it is broadcast and have no loyalty or intention to take that listening further beyond that sound event when the radio is heard. 
Artists and programme makers decorated the studio, manned home made entertainments stalls and 'Not Fit For Human Consuption Cafe', gave stellar performances (Ergo Phizzmizz, Sam Richards' Jazz, Gino, Extra Stereo on the decks) and the amount of cake, soup, cake, coffee, cake and other treats was phonomenal,

We raised £400 toward a new playout computer and enjoyed ourselves massively.

half term commitments....

ITS HALF TERM, AWEN DEMANDS ATTENTION, SHOES, BAKING, SLEEPOVERS. I have a cold, its raining, the town council will decide at the next town council meeting when to have a meeting about recording the town council meeting, sslloowwssuunnddaayy is in confusion - this may be the perfect chance for Nell's 'Crows', the stickers are ordered but i fear they may be rubbish (i am not a designer, there may have been hiccups through Nath/ abacus/ me- but i did coff up the readies, so nothing is assured except i am finacially committed...) I am gearing up for a great big bake, and being as hands on with fete prep as possible. this weekend is the Performance Centre Grand opening at my college's new campus in Cornwall. It is crazy down there- my heart feels torn in two- not romanticism, just for how something fine can be regarded as dangerous, worthless, transportable- we study contexts and yes, everything is always in flux, but delicate things get broke in transportation....

new new new, new studio time

heads up- its all ahappenin'... this week coming is studio refit week- the expansion of soundartradio from just a one room studio plus the shared use of the Dartington College of Arts' MA students' kitchenette, to a radio station encompassing a larger studio, a kitchen and lounge area, a computer suite and work shop area, a work shop for electronics and audio DIY, a office for management details.... woop woop! with the relocation of DCA, the rest of the gallery building became free, and Soundartradio has joined with friends Aunehead Arts to rent the whole building, so we will have even more doors to open : the larger kitchen and lounge area will provide a place for comfortable discussion, the larger studio a better set up for producing work, the computer suite and workshop area will offer free internet and a option to participate in workshops or run one for your own interest, the work shop a place to create, fix, and play with hardware, software, instruments, gizmos....
Soundart radio thus becomes more visible and accessible in its local community :-)

Audio Outreach 1

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!

tutorial notes

such a loot such a lot i like my tutors- they like my proposal- a few ammendments- a strong move away from the ethnographic definition of community
( which surely is a life times work?) to a closer look at the concetric rings of community within community at my specific context of soundart radio and my own relationships within that context- how ideas change, study ammends original ideas, develops with my understanding. I am a single student woman mother local working class artist 30yr old white bi radical agnositic - each aspect of me relates to the context in a different way, from within a different community, from a non-fixed place of allignments and intents and investments but all ifluence and interact. When i spoke to my tutors, we spoke about the personal value of this project to me- that the CEP is about my own relating to the context of my choice, that i form and develop angles of attention. I had some difficulty at first balancing the CEP between the approach of the academic- with the more experientual experimental writer. CEP is about distinguishing something magic and useful to myself- soundart/free radio is that- and then relate to it by immersion.
Thats making the very most of the ethos there- my writing / voice/ sound art / script /devises need to relax and recognise a home- that is liminal, ambigous, in transition, transmission open ended and full of oportunity - the academic in me needs to relax and know its limited use, and stop being so fearful of misunderstanding and responsibility .... for understanding to be authentic it needs to be personal.

the power of words is my happyness- from a emotional child to a instinctive woman, words make and brake me anew- the let me know i am alive, they intergrate me, are my 'blood' sticks and stones 'bread' and butter side up knowing which side i'm on that of the questioner words non static blank spaces relaxing void free fall the scream and the lullaby. I don't care for grammar so much, i stretch towards always the underneath, hidden, hiding, like a game...

slowly does it

sslloowwssunnddaayy is up and running, i hope, in almost self generating fashion now- with the help of Soundartradio staff, most all of the dates running through till the winter brake have filled up with an eclectic mix of noisecraft and soundart from diverse sources... Such interesting approaches to sound, and art, i am falling deeper in love with this kind of work... i have set up a facebook group, and am trying to win interest and contributions from as many angles as possible- it is great to have a space that fulfils a unusual demographic- longer work is catered for and strange areas can be explored, such the continuous repeat, the max patch, the super stretch. ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Uta and Christy's work was interesting- I liked its innocence and sunday-ish relaxed vibe- two artists, chatting, relating, sharing dreams and music and ideas on radio,perormance, installation, music, the body, public and private life. A strange relay- live work reflecting on satic art and live broadcasts, recorded, and broadcast.... Awen was very happy- Uta went out with her father for a few years, and she was very happy to hear Uti chatting away from the radio in our kitchen :-)

initial Totnes Town Coucil proposal....

radio in the community....
I proposed to record and broadcast the Totnes Town Council monthly public meetings on soundartradio today, and had the motion raised, seconded, and carried through on a majority vote at tonights meeting :-) This is a personal and political move- I have lived in (and loved) this small town for so many years, and want to be part of a solution to its social issues- and use whatever tools i can to promote direct improvements. Publicising these meetings will result in a larger audience to the direct workings of the politic that effects the lives of all those who live local to here- in England official governing bodies are often removed form those they represent - for example, the council meeting room can only hold 30 people ( of whom 16 are councillors) and the meetings are held between 7 and 9 pm, which for a town of 26 thousand people, a large percentage of whom have young families to feed and put to bed at this time, is not realistically democratic. This radio broadcast should present a way for locals to hear and become informed on political developments and will hopefully result in a evener distribution of power, and keener sense of social justice regarding issues- its like shining the light of accountability into the meetings, and making voters aware of how decisions are made on thier behalf.... Obviously, the town council have to work under the disrict council, who work under the reginal council, who work under government, but small local radio starts small and local, and solutions tend to come from grass roots up...
I had to sit by my step mom who kept having whispered conversations and munching bonbons through out, so will have to work on tech requirements to ensure a useable sound quality...

CEPtastic

cep- what is cep? sounds like a STD, except
it means contraction an approach that demands a immersion
which sounds like a paint
used to define lines and boundaries and step over them into
a context (oh lordy) where, what why wha? woops
try not to loose the experience, stay looose, don't reign in
whatever might could well happen next,
being taught by interaction with the very thing-
not pinpointing to fiercely quite what it is
allowing understanding, through
and through
though
throwing your self into the deep end (no need to be ashamed by waterwings and learner sign) shows a commitment to the depths that any explorer appreciates
my CEP is on pockets
my CEP is on radio communities
my CEP is on cultural attitudes
my CEP is on fire
and as it burns, new understanding grows, on the land those ashes are dug back into, that is the site under investigation, and every thing fertile if we dream it so.

smokey shakey nicotine withdrawal depression and worries....

ooooo hello stranger where have you been?
for the past 14 days i have been- going slightly insane :-)
I have been suffering from a nicotine habit for the last 17 years, and two weeks ago today, I finally undeniably realized that i am an actual grown up adult, and decided to kick the weed and 'man up'. A addiction can be broken, and in all ways, life would be better if I stopped smoking. So i have- and, believe me, it is. Just, I have been negligent to this radio project whist undergoing cold turkey (i did record my last fag, and have been scripting some of the phychosis as a study for broadcast... ). Too much weeping, too much black blues, too much tiredness, weakness, depression, fear, anxiety, i see why so many people don't suceed in giving up- it ain't a nice experience. So where does that put us now?
sslloowwssuunnddaayy-
1 Cathryn Morgan Richards cow bells
2 Jakoh, Barry dillon, Augustine Leuder- three artists, great work
3'summer' fail ( lovely Oblivian Substanshall repeats, and blank airspace !!!)
and this sunday------ work secured for broadcast so far 4 minutes :-) (Yo Fizz:-)
I feel like I have come through a long tunnel of darkness, and re-emerged finally, but into a place where momentum has been... lost. how to get back on track? How to reassure artists that this programe is not a waste of space, and it is a valued point of exhibition? I am sorry for this confusion, lack of professionalality- but make no apologies= there is never a good time to pack in smoking and it had to be done RIGHT THEN, and lunching out life for 2 weeks is not a bad price to pay for health, wealth and a happier kid. (thanking those whose love and understanding kept me going- you know who you are AND YOU TOTALLY ROCK X X X)
Maybe those that have listened in may have been disapointed by the lack of coherence between what was being requested/offered/advertised and how the space was being used :-( the issue being, contributors may be disinclined to participate in this show if it is not fuctioning.... ie-, in live performace terms,' come see and maybe contribute to this amazing performance', and you get to the venue, and the theatre is closed. Repeatedly. Not good! One could argue thats a little bit fluxus, but essentially, its a big bit lame. Radio space is precious- not to be wasted!

but then is then and this is now- resolution. what of this sunday?
start here+ it begins fabrications spilling outward consetric ripples blips and bleeps words and scars and hearts and dinners
these things break against what makes me tic taking to new and old and experience and plain old dreAMS
s,moking- i have just survived the most risky transition of my life (another- don't they all feel like that?)
i put all else on hold an , wiping tears and snot away with my sleeve, made a move towards a better future. I stopped smoking.
WHAT THE FUSK THAT DOESN'T COUNT AS MAjESTIC
yes it fucking does THESE THINGS ARE IN NO WAY OF INTEREST TO OTHERS- instead of making a work form my hospital bed, as i die of cancer,
titled, "My daughter cries and lights a candle for the mother who followed the path of least resistance into the mouth of the beast"my last ever audio work of heart beats, coughs, weeping, regret and amazment gasped - i bite the bullet and casting my self into a steel
sided reponsibility
life doesn't last forever and small victories might be the only ones left....

so stop! and she did
and what happened? i free-fell i cried like a baby -still doing that, regularly, turned through full 360 giroscpoing baby girl
embodied, lost
woman. i recorded MY LAST EVER CIGGERETTE i smoked it , and have moved into a new phase. Why did it take such a amount of energy
to take thopse steps? away from my self?
opportunity arose and co-incided with this non smoking situation- my whole life ground to a car crash halt through the two weeks i
grappled with self control- the radio show, dear and holy wild thing, fell to the road side, fixed vision lazer like consentration, on a goal

just to stay on the straight and narrow, commited to maintaining that alone- bouying myslef up, when everrything felt like sinking
but, i seem to have survived.....

i need to appologise for a mis application of time enerrgy attention what- its just so annoying, this project
lostlooses momentum becase i take my eye from the ball and essentually, am reliant on... others! ha! this could be so beautiful
sound events unlike stationary texts or fixed media (replayable) have a emphemaeral nature that causes mistakes to have greaterweight- if a paper publication for cafe tables is lame, a avid reader, will still pick up and flick through, chancing 30 seconds on the
possiblility that the editor might have changed or the writers been upgraded- but the show has been the equivilant of a blank book, or repeats where something original was promised, becuase i was busy weeping and trying not to feak ut.
i'm sorry! i am sorry! i am so bloody sorry- this platfrom is open its open it is so open- ues it- use it make it hsppen its open i could go and do a live 24 four hour broadcast of appologies and invitations for work :-)
but instead, i humbly trust and hold tight to the wish to participate in 'the great sound'.

coming soon- ? :-)

first sslloowwssunnddaayy, community forays

MORE COW BELL! Or maybe goats... Our first broadcast show consists of a work by Cathryn Morgan Richards looped EXTENSIVELY. i took my kid and radio to the community orchard at the back of our estate and scrumped apples for a crumble whilst listening- very Alpine it felt too :-) Next week's Sunday is still in planning. We have had many interested and interesting responses, and if work is forth coming (good artists are always so busy) the shows will be fascinating...

I have been considering the definition of 'community' I wish to use for my CEP.
community commune comrade communicate communal
We can conceptually align hearing (like watching) with detached registration of external phenomena. But listening (like seeing) implies a dialogic approach to what ever data's are being processed. Theodor Adorno wrote in 'Minima Moralia:Reflections on a Damaged life'1974, on the danger posed by mechanically reproduced music/media to community in capitalist cultures- that media were offering a 'we-ness' and 'accompanied solitude' that substituted it's own representational space (pre-defined, safe, reliable, scripted, contained) for the real world of direct experience. I am interested in listening cultures that respond to this by forming their own dialogic communities, through radio or other sonic practices, as 'cultures of resistance' (according to bell hooks). Joseph Beuys said "Only on condition of a radical widening of definitions will it be possible for art and activities related to art [to] provide evidence that art is now the only evolutionary-revolutionary power. Only art is capable of dismantling the repressive effects of a senile social system [-]". Definitions are widened when ever dialogue is 'entered into', and process and ambiguity cherished. SO much important work happens through this engagement :-)

so community: ARTS community, radio community, geographical community, minority community, rural community, political sexual shopping hobbyist criminal community.

I have been surveying my immediate locality (soundart radios' home town, Totnes, in Devon) asking individuals to share their ideas of 'community' (yes, asking my community to define community! CLEVER!) generating audio recordings for a radio piece later in the autumn. As well as conceptual definitions, I have been asking people to share their alliances, and asking where people invest their time/resources. Taking as many examples (students, healers, policemen, coffee shop drifters, shop and market workers, street sweepers and sleepers, children and OAP's, dog walkers, football players, solicitors, teachers, cafe staff, artists, young mothers, travellers, torists etc etc etc) as possible will allow me to generate a sound picture of Totnes on which to build a more concrete definition.

Invitation for contributions to Ssllooww Ssuunnddaayy have been posted through soundart's mailing list, and hopefully through Falmouth Uni mail too- though this has proved harder than expected, due to their regulations on student in-house mailing. Other venues for canvassing are being sought...

I have been attending a series of workshops set up and run by Magda Crace (artist and sonic producer who broadcasts as' Oima' on Soundartradio and in Amstadam), which are generating material for a special sslloowwssuunnddaayy on World Mental Health Day 10/10/10. The synopsis the Dartington Arts brochure, (which also includes a week of film at the local indie cinima such as Tarnation, The Soloist, LT22 Radio LA Colifata), reads:
"Soundartradio, in collabaration with The Arts at Dartington, are braodcasting a 24 hour radio festival that will include a enthusiatic vocal and instrumental composition of indefinate form: an unsane rhapsody- a stream ofconsciousness, sounds of changing mood, colour,and tonality, compiled form local workshop participants and led by Magda Crace."

These workshops I have attended thus far follow a gentle yet experimental form: chat, tea, composition, discussion, jamming- all participants have a active interest in mind states, having experienced episodes of 'altered conciousness' or knowing those that have, or having had worked in the areana of mental health. I find diffiuclty in titling insanity/unsanity/crazy/mad/mental difficulties/altered conciousness/deliriums/ mania under one heading, since experientual highs and lows are the province of most living beings, and as someone very clever once said, ‘insanity is the only sane response to an insane world”.

Using radio to share ideas about this subject is not new-

"I have the impression that through radio one can be less susceptable to prejudice and more one's self. It may be paradoxical to have such a public medium the site of more honesty,more nakedness but as I have said being in close proximity is constraining and stiffleing, thus the act of addressing no one in particular might free up tongues." (Michel Theroz,1992, dirtector of the collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne, switzerland). Artists such as Antonin Artaud and Christof Migone have presented work that challeges the place of non sane expressivity in society.

Being involved with such a workshop explores the way radio can form community, help a voice be found, and expressed, and valued. Mental issues are a fine place to start- one way small radio works by being responsive to the individual, and we see that mental issues often arise form situations in which a individual feels they have no value, control or community of understanding. Western medical care is often seen as historically less rehabilitative and more a force of control, judgement and punishment for those who are suffering/experiencing kinds of 'abnormality' in the way they think or perceive. Projects such as this seek ways to reassess and bring more reasoned and caring understanding towards such issues.

invite

SOUND ART!

Do you have some to share?

COULD YOU FILL AN HOUR OF RADIO? 12 HOURS? 24?

Soundart Radio presents

‘ ssllooww rraaddiioo ssuunnddaayy ‘

- a season of 24 hour installation through autumn 2010-

our ears are just as keen any day of the week, but this show is a specific slot for progressive developments and time based performances- a weekly opportunity to break out of the boundaries of radio schedules, to let a sound continue until it drives us mad or we love it completely. It could be the ideas’ simplicity that carries it... just a dripping tap. Or its complexity... a multitude of voices, overlapping, never repeating. It could be a live installation of insects close to the mic, or electronic noise buzzing away to itself.

Do you have work that could be broadcast?

Dreamy installations, soundscapes, pointless noises, different types of silence, pretentious twaddle, nature, voices, boring stuff, drones, fuzzy fluff. Breathing, sighing, sleeping, eating, listening, waking up and going outside. Washing machines, computers, newspapers, floorboards, stuck records and broken toys. Non radio for a switched off audience. Unfinished work welcome. Please show your support of small stations, though this mail is a outreach across the globe- share share share

For more information and to contribute please contact

j.wellwood@dartington.ac.uk

Soundart Radio 102.5 fm www.soundartradio.org.uk

The Gallery Dartington Hall Totnes Devon UK TQ96EJ

The ssllooww ssuunnddaayy project is going to be fun- not the confused project it would be if left only to me…. Above is the test invite for work, mostly fashioned from Lucinda’s previous canvassing. I will add graphics, dress it up some, and get it sent across the globe…. What will be contributed? Who will listen?

Next on my list is- some clarity on the ideas I am bringing to this enquiry. Previous posts seem a little politically unclear/ artistically shaky!!! This project is not an attempt to press beliefs or ‘save radio’ ha! But to seek out and celebrate ways of reasserting what a community/free radio does when “it is a real instrument against forms of intimidation and domestication!” (Gauttari F, 1990, Popular Free Radio), I think modes of communication have been undermined by commercial interests, communities fractured by political imperatives, and that this controlled system of specialists and owned rights and prescribed information drains the vigor from society. Small radio offers a forum for debate, exhibition, inclusion and celebration, which counters the ‘safe’ (yet stifling) offerings of mass media, and encourages a more human model for community and co-existence. This is worked through a real time feedback system of listeners/producers/listeners producing.

Resonance fm serves ‘a community of artists'.  I love much of what can be heard there, but I'm walking streets where those without an arts education walk, and can't help but note the uncommunicatable frustration of those without valid voices. THAT IS THE ISSUE at stake, and I think small radio offers different approaches to hearing, listening, speaking and understanding which, starting small, makes the world a better place, without the exclusivity that  'arts' can unfortunately cause. Where is the cutting edge?

sslloowwssuunnddaayy. . . fingers crossed

I go to see Lucinda Guy today. She is a station manager and radio producer at Soundart102.5. We are to discuss the slowsunday show. To be frank i am unsure that our visions actually match up? I am a mother to a 9 year old- I do not really find the time to invest in listening to much time based sonic installation (though I can understand its virtues) and I am feeling that proper management of that project would have best suited a musician or composer who understands musical language better. My best dream for the slowsunday is that it works like a gallery- all kinds of artists sharing there work, from local poets, to tone minimalists, to saga/story tellers, to 'real life art', to composers and recordists of all persuasions. 24 hours is a lot of time to fill, even if it is less work on a loop....... :-) We hopefully will decide on a form of invitation and send it out through colleges, forums, other radio stations and generate some interest and contributions for the show...

a blogging experiment on CEP issues

Soundart Radio 102.5 FM is a community radio station for the Dartington and Totnes area of South Devon. We are an arts radio station providing space on the airwaves to listen, play and experiment with sound. Our programmes are made by volunteers who thrive in an atmosphere of trust and creative freedom. All kinds of people visit, talk, play music and present radio shows. We leave the studio door open and the sounds of passing birds, conversations and steam trains filter into our broadcasts.