WGXC-90.7 FM
Transmission Ecologies: Episode 16 - Seamus O'Donnell (knifeloop)
90.7-FM in NY's Upper Hudson Valley and wgxc.org/listen everywhere
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Produced by Afroditi Psarra.
Seamus O'Donnell (knifeloop) has been an artist and organiser of different sound art projects in Berlin since 1999. Solo or collaborative works (for performance or installations) include FM radio experiments with receivers and self-built mini-transmitters; reel-to-reel tape machine loop or relay set ups; or a live set with any mix of manipulated field recordings, self-made devices and other more traditional instruments and machines. He co-founded Salon Bruit e.V, an association for audience and composers interested in experimental music and video works, in 2002 and colaboradio, that transmits on 88.4FM in Berlin, in 2011.
This hour is a compilation of experiments in FM transmission feedback and EMF manipulations.
Transmitting Object Behaviours (TOB) was founded in 2002 along with the radiokampagne by Seamus O'Donnell to function as a performative element to the promotion of Free Radio in Berlin. The formation soon consolidated into the duo O'Donnell & Jo FRGMNT Grys, that took more interest in the interferences between the frequencies and resulting textures achieved while manipulating these frequencies with DIY mini FM transmitters. O'Donnell went on to make solo performances using the same principles, called Return To Sender (RTS).
ELECTRICITY was originally developed in 2012 as a live audio/visual performance by knifeloop + hexler, where, with a telephone pickup, the sounds of elctro-magnetic fields (EMF) around highly charged devices were captured, disfigured and then fed into a custom GPU live-coding software for on-the-fly programmed, visual synthesis. This approach was later used to different extents by O'Donnell in solo performances and currently in the project E-09 (with Alexandra Maciá).
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).
Playlist:
- Mandrac / Manja Ristić
- SLD (Morning Show) / E. Jones