About Wave Farm
Radio 4x4: Making Waves
Apr 27, 2005: 12am- 11:59 pm
Anthology Film Archives
New York premier of the film Making Waves. Q+A from director Michael Lahey following the screening. The evening alos features live performances from The Dust Dive, and a Radio 4x4 event with artists Matt Mikas + Tom Roe + Tianna Kennedy + Gregory Wildes.
Making Waves
What do a public access TV personality, an electronics engineer, a Vietnam vet, a libertarian congressional candidate, and a retired millionaire have in common? They're all operating unlicensed, low-power, 'pirate' radio stations in Tucson, Arizona. Making Waves follows their uphill struggle to be heard on our publicly-owned but corporate-controlled airwaves. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) argues that low-power radio interferes with business, creating 'chaos on the airwaves'; low-power advocates say the NAB interferes with democracy. Meanwhile, due to loosened regulations passed by Congress, big business has seized the airwaves and driven the independent station owner to near extinction. Armed with low-cost micro-radio equipment, the First Amendment, even a how-to video by a Michigan pastor, the Tucson pirates use unlicensed radio as a form of civil disobedience, protesting the lack of individual expression and diversity on the airwaves and the FCC regulations that make getting licensed next to impossible. For one station, this means providing the real alternative to 'alternative' music. For the others, it means educating the public about its Constitutional rights.
Live Performances
The Dust Dive
The Dust Dive employs Magnus chord organ, violin, samples, ambient field recordings, guitar, and three vocalists to create unusual sound-visions that have been described as "urban pastoral," "ghostly," "mesmerizing," "bittersweet," "psychedelic," and quirkily sincere "like a youth recital."
Radio 4x4: Making Waves
Radio 4x4 with Matt Mikas + Tom Roe + Tianna Kennedy + Gregory Wildes Installation and live performance by four performers and audience members. Four simultaneous audio performances are separately transmitted through FM transmitters to radios positioned throughout a performance space. Each radio receives only one of the signals, so that the audience becomes an active collaborator in the performance, “mixing” the audio feeds by moving about the space among the four signals. The artists perform both individually on independent radio frequencies, and collectively. This performance will occur as audiences enter the theater before the screening.
What do a public access TV personality, an electronics engineer, a Vietnam vet, a libertarian congressional candidate, and a retired millionaire have in common? They're all operating unlicensed, low-power, 'pirate' radio stations in Tucson, Arizona. Making Waves follows their uphill struggle to be heard on our publicly-owned but corporate-controlled airwaves. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) argues that low-power radio interferes with business, creating 'chaos on the airwaves'; low-power advocates say the NAB interferes with democracy. Meanwhile, due to loosened regulations passed by Congress, big business has seized the airwaves and driven the independent station owner to near extinction. Armed with low-cost micro-radio equipment, the First Amendment, even a how-to video by a Michigan pastor, the Tucson pirates use unlicensed radio as a form of civil disobedience, protesting the lack of individual expression and diversity on the airwaves and the FCC regulations that make getting licensed next to impossible. For one station, this means providing the real alternative to 'alternative' music. For the others, it means educating the public about its Constitutional rights.
Live Performances
The Dust Dive
The Dust Dive employs Magnus chord organ, violin, samples, ambient field recordings, guitar, and three vocalists to create unusual sound-visions that have been described as "urban pastoral," "ghostly," "mesmerizing," "bittersweet," "psychedelic," and quirkily sincere "like a youth recital."
Radio 4x4: Making Waves
Radio 4x4 with Matt Mikas + Tom Roe + Tianna Kennedy + Gregory Wildes Installation and live performance by four performers and audience members. Four simultaneous audio performances are separately transmitted through FM transmitters to radios positioned throughout a performance space. Each radio receives only one of the signals, so that the audience becomes an active collaborator in the performance, “mixing” the audio feeds by moving about the space among the four signals. The artists perform both individually on independent radio frequencies, and collectively. This performance will occur as audiences enter the theater before the screening.