Transmission Ecologies Ep. 35 - featuring “Circuit Blasting” (high-voltage electro-kinetic sound art) by Strange Attractor + Disinformation, and “National Grid” (electromagnetic noise from live mains electricity) by Disinformation, performed live by Disinformation + Strange Attractor.

“Circuit Blasting” is an electro-kinetic art concept devised by the publisher and electronic musician Mark Pilkington - performing under the name of Strange Attractor - after a suggestion by (and with the consent of) the artist and engineer Richard Brown. “Circuit Blasting” is conceived as an affectionate parody of the genre of so-called circuit bending, and is “a bit like circuit bending, but a lot less subtle”. “Circuit Blasting” represents a step change in the methodology of electromagnetic sound art, in that, rather than using low-frequency and shortwave radio technology to intercept electromagnetic noise from live mains electricity, electric storms and the sun etc, instead “Circuit Blasting” uses high-voltage electro-medical devices to transmit electromagnetic signals, which induce currents in the circuits of electronic keyboards, triggering the musical events recorded in this podcast. “Circuit Blasting” represents a crude form of generative electronic music, and a form of experimental piano music, blurring the lines between noise music and contemporary “classical” composition. The Strange Attractor + Disinformation “Circuit Blasting” CD was published by Adaadat Records in 2006, and live “Circuit Blasting” performances have been presented more than 20 times.

Before the “Circuit Blasting” showcase, this podcast for Transmission Ecologies and Stegi Radio opens with the track “Kwaidan, part 3” by Disinformation, from the “Sense Data & Perception” CD, published by Iris Light Records in 2005. “Kwaidan” is an example of Disinformation remixing Disinformation - developing an existing repertoire of electromagnetic sound art, with “musical” remixes of electrical noise recordings. This podcast ends with 3 versions of the electromagnetic sound artwork “National Grid” by Disinformation, which was first performed live and published on LP in 1996, and first exhibited as an art gallery sound installation in 1997. Disinformation and Strange Attractor performed collaborative versions of “National Grid” at numerous venues, including Corsica Studios (nightclub) in Nov 2004, and Westbourne Studios in Sept 2006, both in London, as featured in this podcast.

“National Grid” takes direct line outputs from mains electrical transformers, using simple electronic versions of the micro-tuning techniques devised by the 18th century composer Giuseppe Tartini, to transform the pure 50Hz note of mains alternating current, into a rhythmically pulsing, hypnotic and immersive low frequency sound mass. For the versions of “National Grid” performed by Disinformation and Strange Attractor, the original “National Grid” formula is supplemented by electromagnetic noise from high-voltage physics and electro-medical devices, the latter used also for “Circuit Blasting”. Between these 2 live recordings, this podcast also features a version of “National Grid”, performed by Disinformation “solo”, and commissioned by Schemata Arts (the programming arm of Corsica Studios) for the on-line exhibition “Antithesis” in March 2022. This version features “National Grid”, recorded live, in the studio, with spring reverb, electronic tanpura and virtual string quartet. In 2013, Trebuchet Magazine described “National Grid” as (quote) “one of the most important and impressive sound art works of recent times”.

External hi-fi loudspeakers recommended.

Disinformation is a sound, video and kinetic art project, whose work is primarily concerned with electricity, communications and language, focussing, in particular, on electromagnetic sound art and audio-visual illusions. Disinformation has been the subject of 20 UK solo exhibitions, has contributed to nearly 70 group exhibitions, and performed more than 150 times (across the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan). Aesthetica Magazine described Disinformation artworks as “mesmerising” and as “hypnotic and captivating”, The Guardian newspaper described Disinformation exhibits as “some of the most beautiful installations around”, and The Metro newspaper described Disinformation as “the black-ops unit of the avant-garde”.

Disinformation producer Joe Banks is the author of the book “Rorschach Audio - Art & Illusion for Sound”, which was published in 2012 (as the final outcome of an AHRC funded Research Fellowship at Goldsmiths College and the University of Westminster). In 2022 the “Rorschach Audio” book was translated into Greek and re-issued in Exarcheia, Athens, by Topovoros Books - the publishing imprint founded by the artist Ilan Manouach.

Disinformation collaborator Mark O. Pilkington - performing here under the name of Strange Attractor - is the editor of the highly influential cultural magazine Strange Attractor Journal, and director of the publishing house Strange Attractor Press. Amongst many other titles, Strange Attractor Press has published “X-Ray Audio” and “Bone Music” by Stephen Coates, “Subcontinental Synthesis” by Paul Purgas, “England’s Hidden Reverse” by David Keenan, “Animal Music” (edited) by Tobias Fischer and Lara C. Cory, and “High Static, Dead Lines” by Kristen Gallerneaux. Strange Attractor Press also published 2 biographies of the rock group Hawkwind by Joe Banks (who is not the same Joe Banks who produces the Disinformation art project and “Rorschach Audio”).

Mark Pilkington also records, alongside Michael J. Yorke, as a member of the electronic music group Teleplasmiste, whose LP “Of Nature & Electricity” was published by The State 51 Conspiracy in 2022.

Curated by Afroditi Psarra, "Transmission Ecologies" explores the turbulent world of radio signals which propagate around us. Each show features a guest sound artist who broadcasts their radio experiments using EMFs, interference patterns from devices, HAM, RF field recordings, satellite signals, space astronomy research, etc. to formulate their interpretations, compositions, and translations of the invisible and unheard layer of telecommunication technologies.

"Transmission Ecologies" is commissioned by Stegi Radio / Onassis Culture.

Afroditi Psarra is a multidisciplinary artist and an Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington where she runs the DXARTS Softlab. Her research focuses on the interweaving of art and science through the creation of artifacts with a critical lens. In her projects she explores energetic phenomena like electromagnetic radiation, and technologies such as radio-frequency sensing, fractal antennas, and software-defined radio. She is particularly interested in the use of the body as an interface of control, and the revitalization of tradition as a methodology of hacking existing norms about technical objects. Her art practice builds on and extends the work of Cyber and Techno-Feminism(s) and the idea of bodies as archives of information, and manifests through e-textiles and wearables, performances, installations and sound art.

She has exhibited her work internationally in venues such as Onassis Stegi, Bozar, Laboral, EMST, Ars Electronica, Transmediale and CTM, Eyeo, Amber, Piksel, and WRO Biennale between others, and published at conferences like Siggraph, ISWC (International Symposium of Wearable Computers), DIS (Designing Interactive Systems), C&C (Creativity and Cognition), and EVA (Electronic Visualization and the Arts).