Breakfast@Goethe with Matti Aikio, 2 November 2023

A group of people sit around a long white table. They are facing two figures at the far end of the table who are obscured by arching microphone stands. Bhind them is a screen with a video projection showing a web browser opened on YouTube.

Goethe-Institut Finnland [Instagram] hosted fugitive radio and Sámi artist, reindeer herder and political representative, Matti Aikio [Instagram] for a breakfast event, 2 November 2023. It was live broadcast on πNode and lumbung radio/Station of Commons.

We began by recalling Matti’s visit to Sydney, Australia in 2000 as a representative of the Finnish Youth Parliament and then went on to range over issues that overlap art and politics, such as: settler colonialism in Finland and the Nordic States—notably so-called “Green Colonialism”—alongside the appropriation and weaponisation of Sámi culture by the tourism industry. We also discuss our mutual interests in music; the horrorcore rap of Inari language activist Amoc and the intricacies of Sámi joiking. Given we both DJ, Matti also shed some light on the underground techno scenes in the North.

Many thanks to Lena, Petra and Ville-Veikko from Goethe-Institut Finnland for organising the event. Also props to Timo Tuhkanen, Eddie Choo Wen Yi, Constantinos Miltiadis, Irina Mutt, Mathilde Palenius and Essi for their generous contributions to our conversation, and to Goethe-Institut Finnland and Jakub Bobrowski for the fotos [all links on Instagram]!

Media used in this broadcast:

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 10: post-apocalyptic partying with Juan, Selfies & Sandro, Radio Tropiezo

This month’s episode is a conversation with Juan, Selfies and Sandro from Radio Tropiezo, that is part of the collective Cráter Invertido [Instagram] in Mexico City. Radio Tropiezo is involved in the lumbung radio/Station of Commons network and we met recently in Berlin during the Miss Read Berlin Art Book Festival & Fair, 22–24 September at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Selfies and Sandro, who are also part of the DJ collective Chakanais [Soundcloud], and Juan DJ’d the opening party of the 3-day event in HKW’s restaurant and bar.

Our conversation touches on the post-apocalyptic party culture of Mexico city and features excerpts of their sets — Selfies and Sandro spinning cumbia and Juan playing high energy Italo disco and house. Many thanks to Eddie from Station of Commons for these recordings.

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 9: Κρατήρας with Jitsa Kon

Demonstrators hold a banner at the “Womens Strike”, Athens, International Womens Day, 8 March 2023.

This episode features and interview with Athens-based choreographer Jitsa Kon [Instagram] recorded in March with Anastasia Diavasti, artist and founder of the feminist platform NTIZEZA [Instagram]. We discuss the durational dance-research practice Κρατήρας (Crater), initiated by choreographers Vitoria Kotsalou [Facebook] and Michael Kliën. I first encountered Κρατήρας in front of the Olympia Municipal Music Theatre Maria Callas which was then being occupied by students [Instagram] protesting policy changes that devalued their education and thus professional standing and opportunities. Interspersed throughout the podcast are recordings made during the march marking International Womens Day, 8 March in Athens and a performance by “Chrishanti and friend” recorded outside Rex Theatre, also in central Athens, and that was also being occupied [Instagram].

This episode was made possible by Onassis AiR.

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].

<a href="https://fugitive-productions.bandcamp.com/track/language-it-s-really-hard-to">language (it’s really hard to) by fugitive productions</a>

<a href="https://fugitive-productions.bandcamp.com/track/os-rdm">OS_RDM by fugitive productions</a>

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 7: bioluminescence mix

An hour-long mix made for an installation by Jeanne Berbinau Aubry. Made live with Pioneer’s rekordbox software and DDJ–FLX4 controller, this mix is a record of the so-called “vapor rave” I’ve been playing lately.

Tracklist
01 Sinistarr & Stingray – “Untitled”
02 JLin & Zora Jones – “Dark Matter”
03 Hyph11E – “Barnacles (Kode9 Remix)”
04 Siu Mata – “Ngalah Oreyo x UMOJA – GALA GALA (Siu Mata Edit)”
05 DJ Marfox – “Lucky Punch”
06 Hyroglifics & Sinistarr – “BS6”
07 Ikonika – “Energy”
08 Loraine James – “Let’s Go”
09 EQ Why & Traxman – “Dsc”
10 NET GALA – “Reclaim It (ZULI’s Shifting Weight at the Club remix)”
11 Ayesha – “Downpour”
12 Amor Satyr – “Rebola”
13 Black Rave Culture – “Sub Poppin”
14 EL PLVYBXY – “A Pulmon”
15 JLin – “Auto Pilot”
16 Gant-Man – “Distorted Sensory (Kode9 Remix)”
17 RP Boo – “Off Da Hook”
18 Siu Mata & Amor Satyr – “Acidez”
19 Ayesha – “Dark Matter”
20 Hyroglifics & Sinistarr – “Turn Up”
21 JLin – “Connect the Dots”
22 Ziúr – “Collar Bone”
23 Sinistarr – “Nonlinear Threat”
24 Kode9 – “The Jackpot”

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 6: “Four Cees and a Ka”, in conversation with Rosa de Graaf

LIVE RADIO RECORDING IN PROCESS FEEL WELCOME TO SIT & ENJOY (For this reason the sound works in this exhibition are currently switched off)

Rosa de Graaf is curator at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam. Recorded in May 2023, our conversation was instigated as a live broadcast at the Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht, where fugitive radio is currently in residence. We address the thematics “Community”, “The Contemporary”, “Conviviality”, “The Curatorial” and “Karaoke” with reference to radio in exhibition practices. We touch on the work of artists Anna Witt and Ayeshah Hameed who have recently exhibited at Melly. This episode also includes audio excerpts from Anna Witt’s Soft Destructions (2023) video below and an episode of Ayesha Hameed’s podcast “Brown Atlantis Radio featuring Ananya Jahanara Kabir”, recorded at Melly in 2022. The main image lifted from Ayesha Hameed’s Instagram, taken during her broadcast at Melly,

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 5: Where’s Charles?

This month’s episode is in conversation with Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Professor at the University of the Arts London, and a renown curator and researcher. It was recorded during a studio visit at the Jan van Eyck Academie, and initially broadcast live as a “porosity session” on the morning of 26 April 2023. I was curious to probe Charles for his thoughts about the recent appearance of radio in contemporary art, and specifically about the inclusion of ruangrupa’s RuRuRadio in the 31st São Paulo Biennal 2014 (main image), for which he was part of the curatorial team. I also asked him to bring in some music. No spoiler! Listen on to hear his selections.

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 4: NightShift, “Creative Labour”

A group of people with their backs to the camera are crowded around a shopfront entrance on a chilly night.

“Creative Labour” is the first audio fanzine documenting NightShift, an all night publishing-performance-happening occurring over March 2-3, 2023, at Limestone Books in Maastricht [Instagram] and made in collaboration with Rose Nordin. We streamed live for six hours straight on πnode and {openradio}.

In order of appearance “Creative Labour” features the voices of:
Riar Rizaldi whose film Becquerel (2021) screened before the broadcast, Maud van den Beuken who gives a live audio description followed by Merien Rodrigûes (São Paulo) [Instagram] and Anastasia Diavasti (Athens) [Instagram] who dialed in their audio descriptions. Chen Jehn, one of the proprietors of Limestone Books discusses their ideas for the shop with prompts from book artist Michiel Romme and Kim David Bots, who also contributed live improvised music. There is a brief excerpt from a pre-recorded interview with Jo Frenken who established the print studio at the Jan Van Eyck Academie and Rose Nordin gets in the last (delirious) word. Wen Hsuan Chang’s audio piece Paper Ripping Paper can be heard in the background, alongside the music of the Commodores.

Foto: Maud van den Beuken

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.

fugitive frequency, season 3, episode 2: “speakeasy”

A view from above of a studio space in the Jan van Eyck Academie. A group of people sit along the permeter walls and watch a figure operating equipment set on a central table. In the foreground are the legs of a figure dangling over a loft from which the image was taken.

This month’s episode is an (amended) audio document and re-broadcast of a live “speakeasy” event fugitive radio hosted at the Jan van Eyck Academie on a snowy friday evening, January 20. It was also the first in a series of monthly live broadcasts fugitive radio is producing on πnode, a decentralized radio infrastructure streams online and broadcasts on DAB in Mulhouse and Paris. It featured contributions from Jan van Eyck artists-in-residence, in order of appearance [Instagram]: Cristina Flores, AZOOR, Zahra Malkani, Kim David Bots, Juan Pablo Pacheco Bejarano, Alicja Wysocka and Arpita Akhanda. Foto: Dayna Casey.

The speakeasy was convened as a space for experimentation, spontaneity and improvisation, although it ended being a tightly packed schedule that ran a little over time. A theme of “songs” emerged in the days beforehand, but was not a requirement. The event was broadcast live with the proviso that it would only be documented internally and not be archived online. In the following days, all participants agreed to re-broadcast and upload with some minor amendments to account for time restrictions and sound quality. Many thanks to all who participated, attended and tuned in!