ART CITIES:Basel-Radiophonic Spaces
Over the hundred years since its emergence, the radio medium has been explored by musicians, composers, writers, philosophers and fine artists (and many others who do not fit into such categories). They have examined the production of programs, ways of recording, transmitting and receiving, and the possibilities for recording broadcasts.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Museum Tinguely Archive
For the exhibition “Radiophonic Spaces”, Museum Tinguely hosts a sonic journey giving access to works of radio art from the last hundred years in a unique way. As visitors navigate the space with headphones and specially programmed smartphones, their movements act as “human radio dials” activating works. The resulting interplay of sound and space is both technically sophisticated and aesthetically striking, giving visitors an immersive experience of the world of radio. In the second part of the exhibition, diverse aspects of the theme of radio will be discussed in 14 themed weeks, offering visitors a chance to engage and experiment actively with this fascinating medium. In the first exhibition of its kind, “Radiophonic Spaces” brings together more than 200 pieces for radio from around the world with the aim of documenting this sustained engagement with the medium by artists, and allowing visitors to hear it. Unforgettable broadcasts that existed only in obscure archives can be experienced afresh, presenting the history of a medium whose rootedness in actuality means it gives a picture of the century of its existence. The major disasters of the last hundred years are revisited here, as are the great technical and social achievements of the period to current positions such as “Documenta Radio” (2017). The “sonic journey” combines artistic approaches to radio art and broadcasting with a scholarly project led by the research group on experimental radio at the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar. The results of this creative interplay unfold in an immersive journey featuring some 200 works of international radio art. Historical and contemporary works are related to one another: from Antonin Artaud, John Cage and László Moholy-Nagy through to Michaela Mélian, Milo Rau and Natascha Sadr Haghighian. With the help of a headphone system, visitors gain access to individual works of radio art, triggered by their movements. This experience resembles the reality of using an actual FM radio: looking for channels until a voice, a piece of music or a sequence of sounds prompts the listener to stay a while longer, or at least to note the frequency so as to be to return to the channel and the voice later. The range of channels on offer is confusing, overwhelming, sometimes too much, but it reflects both the sprawling variety that characterizes the medium and the possibility to decide quickly what to listen to. In the 14 weeks of the exhibition, 14 program blocks will shed light on many and varied aspects of radio. Practical sessions like making receivers and capturing short wave signals from across the world follow radio play workshops and the performance of live radio plays.
Info: Museum Tinguely, Paul Sacher-Anlage 1, Basel, Duration: 24/10/18-27/1/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.tinguely.ch
