ARCHIVE
Radiophrenia Redux: Astrid Björklund / Fraser MacBeath / Mark Vernon (Audio)
Work 1: “Tiugainn Dachaidh” by Fraser MacBeath
The Outer Hebrides are among rural communities throughout the world that are experiencing population decline. Out of any Scottish local authority region, The Outer Hebrides is where this is most significant. From 1901 to 2001 the population has fallen by 40% and continues to drop more dramatically in recent years. The Outer Hebrides comprise more than 70 islands but only 15 remain inhabited today. Tiugainn Dachaidh is a project which casts a light on this issue, using field recordings captured in abandoned houses in the Hebrides and Scottish archive material to paint wounded soundscapes of a culture in decline.
https://frasermacbeath.squarespace.com
Work 2: “An Oneirophonic Account of a Venture to the Second Moon” by Astrid Björklund
In 2019, a new natural satellite was discovered orbiting our moon. Things have not been the same since.
One day you are here. And then suddenly you’re not here. You’re not anywhere. In “An Oneirophonic Account of a Venture to the Second Moon” a disembodied voice recollects its memories of a failed expedition to the satellite orbiting Earth’s moon: the second moon. This piece – part science fiction radio drama, part fragmented soundscape – weaves a sonic tapestry that attempts to explain what it’s like to be consumed by the unknown – something that words alone can’t describe – creating a narrative set outside time and reality.
Written, recorded and edited by Astrid Björklund.
Several voices in this work have been synthesised using ElevenLabs.
All things in this piece are fictional, except for the things that are not.
Commissioned for Radiophrenia 2023 with the support of Creative Scotland.
Work 3: "Call Back Carousel Episode 1 - Holidays in Torquay, 1969
" by Mark Vernon
Call Back Carousel is an audio time-travelogue, a slideshow of the mind’s eye - projecting Kodachrome memories directly into the listener’s mind by means of sound alone. It is a way of travelling without ever having to leave the home. A vicarious vacation for the imagination. Pure audio escapism.
Each episode is based on a found tape of a pre-recorded slideshow commentary. Most of these tapes were made by amateur tape recording enthusiasts and hobbyist photographers of the 60s and 70s. Their recorded commentaries would at one time have been used in conjunction with a sequence of 35mm slides but only the taped voices now remain. The recordings themselves come from my own archive of found reel-to-reel tapes that I have collected over the past twenty years.
Produced with the support of the PRS and Creative Scotland.
This monthly program features highlights and commissions from Glasgow art radio station Radiophrenia.
Presented on an annual basis, Radiophrenia is a temporary art radio station – a two-week exploration into current trends in sound and transmission arts. Broadcasting live from Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts, the station promotes radio as an art form, encouraging challenging and radical new approaches to the medium. Each year, the broadcast schedule includes a series of newly commissioned radio works, live shows, pre-recorded features and 12 Live-to-Air performances. The majority of the program is made up from selections submitted to an international open call for sound art and radio works. Radiophrenia is managed by Mark Vernon and Barry Burns and is funded through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Funding with additional support from CCA Glasgow.