Currently titled Wireless Imagination, my ARP project imagines ways in which the format of community radio can act as a model for socially engaged practice.
I have formed a research group with students working or interested in sound in their third year of BA Fine Art. This was done through a mail-out plus students I already knew to be interested from my tutor group or regular attendees of AV Cultures. The end goal is to work collaboratively on a broadcast, which is to be distributed in some way. Through a series of meetings which each have a particular focus, we are building an archive of resources, the space for sharing audio work and most importantly a sense of collaboration and sharing ethos.
Our research padlet and resource exchange can be accessed here: https://padlet.com/beavorster/wireless-imagination-qcyn686rtohcjbnr
The starting points for the meetings are designed to be open-ended and invite an intuitive response. Full notes from each meeting can be seen in the meeting log. These are the intended focal points (as of November):
- The introductory meeting outlined the project, its purpose and asked what it means to be co-researchers. Using the documentary Sisters with Transistors as a prompt, we talked about the historic exclusion of groups from the field of experimental music.
- Piracy, bootlegging and distribution
- Listening: alone & together
- Audio essays & oral histories
I gave one of the students a sound recorder and arranged for this to be passed around. It was important to me for everyone to have access to the tools needed to participate.
Some questions to myself following our first few meetings:
- what is the role of conversation? how can this activity be translated into action.
- how does the project build community? the vulnerability of listening.
- what is my role in this? I am a facilitator, co-researcher, collaborator
- what are my responsibilities to my students as co-researchers?
Think about the shape of the project. What will I learn? What will they learn?
the research question?
- What can the model of community radio practices teach us about socially engaged practice?
- What can the model of community radio practices teach art students