fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 8: “Risky Business” with Mariam Elnozahy

Sumugan Sivanesan and Mariam Elnozahy in the foreground, with their backs to the camera, are seated at a table in front of a laptop. In front of them is the vegetable garden of the Jan van Eyck Academie. People are gathered here in the sunshine during open studio, 2023.

This month’s episode “Risky Business” is a conversation with curator, writer and researcher Mariam Elnozahy, recorded during a live broadcast at the Jan van Eyck Academie’s Open Studios, 24 June 2023. Our discussion takes its cues from a statement issued from Jan van Eyck participants concerned with the unclear expectations and “unacceptable conditions of labour” that shaped this much anticipated three day public event. It circulates around issues of artistic production, professional practice and the commodification of identities with reference to exhibition making. Furthermore, this podcast demonstrates how a practice of fugitive radio can offer a counter-platform to circumvent the well established trope of institutional critique in contemporary art.

The podcast begins with the voice of Rose Nordin from an earlier podcast, “NightShift: ‘Creative Labour’” that connects issues of work, artistic practice, sociability and the other intangible processes that contribute to professionalised arts. Interspersed in the podcasts are segments of electromagnetic noise made with Kim David Bots and computer riddims available on fugitive productions [bandcamp].

image: “fugitive radio: outside inside open studios, with Mariam Elnozahy. Live broadcast from the Jan van Eyck Academie vegetable garden, 24 June 2023.” foto: Tessa Zettel.

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 3: “techno samba” launch Mixxx

silhouette image of a beach bar “Barraca de Falvio“. A shack on a beach flanked by two makeshift flag poles from which fly numerous banners.

This mix announces fugitive productions’ techno samba release on Bandcamp, four drum tracks made over two visits to Brazil during two presidential elections (2018 and 2022). Made with Mixxx free and open source DJ software and a Numark DJ2GO2 Touch, this mix proposes a way to work with these rhythms by looping, filtering and slip-phasing beats. It’s certainly repetitive! At times minimal, occasionally “asymmetrical” and at best hypnotic with a few jump cuts to keep listeners on their toes. May not be suitable for driving. Try dancing?


fugitive radio rádio em fuga in Brazil 2022 was supported by the Australia Council for the Arts.