radioart106 #178 - "Alignment' by Stephen Shiell
This piece explores the contradictions of policy, politics, and protest, echoing a pivotal moment in London’s anti-capitalist history: the M11 link road protests. Part of Thatcher’s ‘Roads to Prosperity’ program, the project was justified by projections that traffic would rise 142% by 2025. Now, in that very year, governments are urged to outline low-traffic futures—even as major infrastructure projects like the Silverlink tunnel continue.

The M11 protests were some of my first experiences of activism and political resistance through squatting in the area. This radio piece revisits that moment through found sound—from the films You’ve Got to be Choking by Under Currents Media and Life in the Fast Lane by United Diversity—and my own sonic engagement with the road. From my studio in Bow, I worked with a live field recording of the A12 road via a seismic geophone mic on the building, processing this alongside a mix of ambient drones, synth, tape loops, and radio. Improvising over 24 hours, in a kind of trance, listening to the structure vibrate with the histories of this ancient route: once a Celtic crossing, later a Roman road, and the more recent expansion splitting through communities. If we see things in a cyclical way these things are all still happening now and I’ve somehow re-listened to them happening through this piece.

Improvising with the building, a spell is woven through vibration, foundation and connection with what's divided by urban expansion and roadways. Timelines merge as interlacing stories arise from the thrumming of tyre on tarmac.

Bio
Stephen Shiell is a London‑based sound artist, performer, improviser, deep listener, and composer. His work engages with field recordings, specially designed instruments, and subtle interventions that reveal hidden layers of sound in site‑specific landscapes. In his solo work Shiell crafts immersive soundscapes from extended field recordings.

Shiell’s sound works embrace low-frequency phenomena and the textures of the elements, surface, and matter—whether through hydrophones, contact microphones, or electromagnetically tuned receivers, merging natural ambience with human‑made resonance.

Beyond recordings, Shiell collaborates in experimental collectives, such as Blanc Sceol—a duo with Hannah White—exploring performance, deep listening, ritual, and ecological sound interventions.

Rooted in sensitivity to place, sound, and community, Stephen’s work has been featured in sound festivals and exhibitions and invites audiences into profound acoustic encounters where listening becomes a dynamic and transformative act.

Current radio shows are ‘I Want to Eat the Earth’ with the New School of the Anthropocene, 'Intertidal Anomaly: conversations from A Slice of Reality’ on Archipel Radio, Berlin, and 'Radioactive: on water’ podcast series, co-curated with Meira Asher.

www.stephenshiell.co.uk
www.blancsceol.co.uk

radioart106 is an independent monthly Radioart program curated and produced by Meira Asher since 2014. radioart106 explores a wide spectrum of creative radio by worldwide radio artists.

Radioart is a subset of Soundart where Radioart is produced for/with the medium of radio and is specifically suited to be broadcasted on air waves. Radioart opens new ways and approaches to radio making, where the listener takes part whether through the intensity of the listening experience or sometimes through their active participation.

In 2025, radioart106 airs on USMARADIO, BernRaBe, reboot.fm, Radio Campus Paris, Radio Tsonami, P-Node, Diffusion919fm, and WGXC. radioart106 is affiliated with radia.fm.

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