24th of May Exhibition Opening at Piksel Studio 207
SIGNAL TO NOISE
radio is dead, long live radio!
Curator: Tincuta Heinzel
Repertories of (in)discreetness by Tincuta Heinzel (RO) & Lasse Scherffig (DE); ∏‐Node Platform (FR) and Embodied RF Ecologies by Afroditi Psarra (GR)
Official opening 24th of May from 19:00 – 23:00
Exhibition dates: 25th of May - 16th of June (Mondays closed)
Opening hours: 15:00 – 18:00
SIGNAL TO NOISE, text by Tincuta Heinzel
One of the well known examples of Victor Papanek’s “designs for the real world” is that of a radio receiver for the third world. Produced from very simple, “cottage” like materials, such as an used juice can, paraffin wax and a wick as power source, the radio was non-directional, receiving any and all stations simultaneously. “But, as Victor Papanek will comment, in emerging countries, this was then of an importance: there was only one broadcast (carried by relay towers placed about fifty miles apart”. And, as Papanek continues, “It was much more than a clever little gadget, constituting a fundamental communication device for preliterate areas of the world. After being tested successfully in the mountains of North Carolina (an area where only one broadcast is easily received), the device was demonstrated to the Army. They were shocked. “What if a Communist”, they asked, “gets to the microphone?” The question is meaningless. The most important intervention is to make information of all kinds freely accessible to people.”
This story of the non‐expensive, locally adapted produced radio receiver is the starting point for an exhibition and a workshop which deals with different aspects of radio broadcasting: From the way a radio receiver and a radio transmitter are produced to radio infrastructure, and from the delivered information to the means of questioning its accuracy and validity. The exhibition will consider a historical perspective, but will mostly bring into discussion researches related to the present forms of radio infrastructure and radio phenomena, as well as strategies and tactics of radio‐based interventions.
Tincuta Heinzel (RO) is an artist, designer and curator interested in the relationship between art and technoscience. Her artistic production focuses on electronic textiles and interactive installations. She curated and coordinated several projects, such as “Areas of Conflu(x)ence” (Luxembourg, Sibiu/Romania, 2007), “Artists in Industry” (Bucharest/Romania, 2011-2013) and “Haptosonics” (Oslo/Norway, 2013), “Repertories of (in)discreetness” (Tranzit.ro, Bucharest, 2015).
Lasse Scherffig (DE) is an assistant professor for art and technology at San Francisco Art Institute. His work explores the relationship of humans, machines and society, technological infrastructures of communication and control, and the cultures and aesthetics of computation and interaction. His art projects have been shown at Tranzit Bucharest, Science Gallery Dublin, Transmediale, ISEA, National Art Museum of China, and the ZKM.
∏-node (FR) is a collective, which regroups emblematic figures of the sound art, radio and streaming scenes. The collective was created for the CTM 2014 Radio Lab, and was one of two recipients of the “Ubiquitous Art and Sound” Open Call for works, awarded by Deutschland Radio Kultur/Klangkunst, Goethe‐Institut, ICAS – International Cities for Advanced Sound, ECAS – European Cities for Advanced Sound, and CTM Festival.
Afroditi Psarra, PhD (GR) is a multidisciplinary artist working with e-textiles, diy electronics and sound. Her artistic interest focuses on concepts such as the body as an interface, contemporary handicrafts and folk tradition, pop iconography, retrofuturistic aesthetics and the role of women in contemporary culture.
Piksel Fest Spill is supported by the Municipality of Bergen, Arts Council Norway, the Wallonie-Bruxelles International and Rumanska Kultur Institutet.