Outside Broadcast

Cosmo[s]politan Radiophonic Picnic
Saturday 29/8, 12.00–16.00 (EEST/UTC+3)
Venue: In front of Pixelache office, Kaasutehtaankatu 1/21 Suvilahti (Bldg. 7), 00540 Helsinki

Hallo Helsinki and beyond! This Saturday marks the inaugural ‘official’ broadcast from fugitive-radio.net. We’re celebrating by throwing a ‘radiophonic picnic’. ‘What’s that’, you say? It’s a bit like a ‘teddy bears’ picnic’ for signal surfers, acoustic astronauts, crystal radio cultivators, outside(r) broadcasters and anyone with a penchant for experimental offbeat radio.

There will be an open mic/line, so feel free to bring your set-ups. Also bring snacks, your devices and portable speakers to listen to. If you have a bluetooth JBL we can ‘connect’ for a roaming broadcast or ‘Sound Swarm’.

The event will be streamed live, thanks to Open Radio:
https://play.openradio.in/public/fugitive-radio [web]
https://play.openradio.in:8050/radio.mp3 [media players]

If you would like to beam in from elsewhere, please contact: sumugan@protonmail.com

We will meet in front of Pixelache office at 12.00. Kahvila Katarsis opens at 14.00 if you need refreshments. We might go wandering later, so stay tuned for updates!

Cosmo[s]politan Radiophonic Picnic is initiated by Sumugan Sivanesan, a Berlin-based artist and writer who will be in Helsinki over the coming year to develop ‘Fugitive Radio’ in collaboration with Pixelache and with support from the Kone Foundation.

Radio as a Self-reflexive Medium

Given the recent trend of radio in Contemporary Art I have been thinking about radio as performance and installation. Indeed, I’ve been thinking about how people come together to make radio, rather than listen to it. Juxtaposed to the ‘golden era’ trope of families huddled around the wireless to listen to the latest news of the world or radio play, my emphasis on radio as a social practice concerns how community forms around sound, equipment and the notion of broadcasting (to whom?). For me, this suggests an aspect of ‘gear fetishism’ — I do happen to think that sound equipment can be quite fascinating and obtuse and I enjoy the process of playing such technology as one would a toy or instrument. It reminds of some discussion about the postcolonial deployment of scientific or technical apparatus, the classic example being the turntable in early hip hop, and leads me to think about cultures of pleasure (indeed pleasure activism) and the libidinal qualities of technology and sound. This is arguably most apparent in a kind of commodity fetishism attached to consumer audio gear designed for leisure. I am not immune.

With this in mind, I’ll be hosting a Cosmo[s]politan Radiophonic Picnic in conjunction with Pixelache, Helsinki. I think of it as a ‘teddybears’ picnic’ but for radio lovers and broadcast ‘freques’. I’m hoping to connect with some of the radiophonic community here to share and learn about a diversity of practices, set-ups and approaches; from crystal radios, biosignals, pirate radio, parasite radio, outside(r) broadcasters and more…

Here’s a little (ghetto) blast from the past to whet your ears!