This episode of The Radio Art Hour features the work of Hardi Kurda, a composer, sound artist, improviser, researcher, curator and founder of SPACE21 for experimental music and sound art in Slemani, Kurdistan region in Iraq. We will hear Radiola Springs, an album consisting of a selection of Kurda's work related to radio from 2005 until 2020. We will then hear a recording from Illegal Frequencies, a performance and interactive installation that was presented in Sonoscopia in 2022 and the Sounding Conference in 2022 at The Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Illegal Frequencies recreates a listening map Kurda made after becoming lost while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in a shipping container, using the different radio broadcasts he could pick up as a form of navigation.

Kurda's works and performances involve suggestive, unusual sounds, unexpected moments, and noises. The artist uses, among others, the radio to explore spectrum frequency as sound material and interact with the audience to reflect on his illegal journey to Europe and question the construction of legality. Besides composing classical acoustic and electronic music, Hardi develops pieces in which music interacts with different art forms in new art spaces to create new listening experiences using found scores, a new listening medium he develops. He performed at the Sonorities festival Belfast, the Borderline festival Athens, the Crater project Santa Cruz de La Palma, the Soundings Conference ADK Berlin, IKLECTIK Art Lab (2022), Café OTO London (2021), Nomos Museum Gdansk (2021), Irtijal festival Beirut (2019).

For more information about Hardi Kurda, please visit hardikurda.com