Sonntag, 13. Oktober 2019, 23:03 - 0:00, Ö1

[ DEUTSCH ]

RADIOKUNST - KUNSTRADIO






“Citizen Band” by Jessica Ekomane

co-produced by ORF musikprotokoll and SHAPE

PLAY



Ö1 Kunstradio presents a new work for radio by the sound artist Jessica Ekomane, a co-production of ORF musikprotokoll and the network SHAPE.

„Citizen Band“
In most countries, governments regulate the electromagnetic spectrum into radio frequency bands and allocate them to a specific standardized use. 108-136 MHz for aircraft, 76-108 MHz for FM radio broadcasting or 0.525-1.710 MHz for AM radio. Between AM and FM lies the so-called "Citizen band radio", a range for short-distance communication between individuals. Unlike amateur radio, it doesn’t require a license and is typically used for leisure rather than to provide a service.
Initially thought as the "poor man's business-band radio", CB radio is a mode of communication associated with the working class and a place where plumbers and truck drivers rub shoulders with radio hobbyists. With the rise of contemporary telecommunication technologies and the change in radio propagation due to the 11-year sunspot cycle however, CB radio progressively lost its appeal. The radio piece “Citizen Band” by Jessica Ekomane promotes these anonymous voices from the remains of an underground public forum up the frequency spectrum, letting them disrupt and have their say on national radio.

„Figures / Ground“
As part of the project „Untraining the Ear“, Jessica Ekomane has developed a new work for the Berlin art space SAVVY Contemporary, including a binaural radio composition: „If one wants to find a guiding principle in Jessica Ekomane’s body of work, the listening body easily starts swerving away from sound related vocabulary and dives into the realm of psychology, quasi astronomy and nuclear physics. The listener is exposed to ever changing, disintegrating & reforming, attracting and repelling atoms of sound, which constellate and re-constellate themselves over and over again in one’s mind, while becoming an active agent of her open scores through ones mere presence and movement in a –through sound pressure waves– ignited space.
Spelling out the music of Jessica Ekomane, we can discover how she is confronting reprogramming sonic spontaneity with historical facts. The usage of Gestalt psychology rooted in the Berlin School of Experimental Psychology touches upon the wholeness of the self governed mind in the present tense. She creates applied psychoacoustics effects through staging or imposing similar tones with a use of a computer that calls for a togetherness rooted in the specifics resembling rhythmic complexities of music made with instruments.“

Links:
ORF musikprotokoll
SHAPE
"Figures / Ground" bei Deutschlandfunk Kultur
SAVVY Contemporary