TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE
Langue Etude
1991, 1:56 min.
Susan Stone
Stone had her start in radio at WBAI in NYC in 1979 producing a radio show called Radio Schizophonia with fellow radio artist Gregory Whitehead. Susan Stone was involved for many years with Pacifica Radio KPFA-FM in Berkley California. These days Susan works in restorative justice with youth offenders. Langue Etude, is two minutes long, but don’t be fooled by the short length of the piece; it is one that stays with you and has been influential in radio art circles. The piece conveys, among many things, the literal and metaphoric meanings of cutting tape. And the piece just makes me laugh! Stone explains that her pieces Langue Etude and Couch started as experimental “bits of ‘house furnishings’” in her longer 1985 work, House with a View. She adds, “Then in the following years I took the entire house apart to see what might be done differently with certain segments, especially for performance venues and broadcast.” - Described by Wave Farm Radio Artist Fellow 2019/2020, Karen Werner.