THE RADIO OF THE FUTURE REDUX: RETHINKING TRANSMISSION THROUGH EXPERIMENTS IN RADIO ART ANNA FRIZ A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY JOINT GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80521-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80521-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada ABSTRACT This dissertation reconsiders radio in order to rethink questions of communication, affect, and historical artistic practices in wireless media. I displace avant-garde preoccupations with radiation, speed, time and space overcome, disembodiment, ghosts, and schizophonia; tempering them with ideas of resonance, slowness, hearing distance and experiencing time, technology as embodied aggregate circuits of humans and things, transception, and minor media. By expanding Bertolt Brecht's notion of transception through a critical theory of technology as a central concept for re-theorizing transmission, communication and media culture, I consider which alternate radio territories might emerge if the Utopian desires to exceed our current capacities through wireless technologies are set aside in favour of embodied, transceptive relationships with others, human and non-human. Through the creation of three new radio art installation and performance works You are far from us, Respire, and The Joy Channel (created with Emmanuel Madan), I consider how bodies remain present and affective in wirelessness through choices of circuit, performance strategies, and compositional elements; theoretically and practically reconsidering radio in terms of transmission ecology and minor media. I propose and begin to test the notion of a resonant rather than radiant paradigm for transmission by emphasizing micro-radio narrowcasting and interference in radio art creation, drawing upon contemporary notions of Hertzian space in which humans and things serve as radiogenic actants. iv This dissertation considers creative practice as research, in which radio art/works function as experiments that aim to generate and contribute to theoretical knowledge. These works, which were variably narrowcast and broadcast multi-channel radio transmissions, 'performed installations', and live radio theatre, repurposed very common technology (terrestrial FM radio broadcasting) and reframed the relationships in which transmission takes place. This simple appropriation of technology undermines the broadcast model of radio that has been naturalized for the past century, while providing opportunities in which to imagine future circumstances which could deepen circuits of relationship. If radio to date has largely acted as an accomplice in the industrialization of communications, art radio and radio art continue to destabilize this process with renewed explorations of radio and electromagnetic phenomena, and the softly subversive potential of reverie. v Acknowledgements: The Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture at York University gave me enormous freedom to pursue an unorthodox research-creation dissertation, and I greatly appreciate the enthusiasm, confidence, and guidance from my supervisor Steve Bailey and core committee members Jennifer Fisher and Janine Marchessault. Thanks also to Rosemary Coombe and Bob Hanke at York University, and Jonathan Sterne at McGill University, who provided useful feedback on early ideas as they appeared in papers I wrote for their classes. Thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, who supported this work for four years, and to York University who supported a fifth year's work by awarding me a Susan Mann Dissertation Fellowship. My deep gratitude to the collaborators with whom I have been so lucky to work and who have greatly impacted my ideas and artistic practice: Owen Chapman, Peter Courtemanche, Glenn Gear, Eric Leonardson, Emmanuel Madan, Jason Rovito, and E.C. Woodley. Many thanks are due to the curators, editors, and organizations who have supported the radio art/works that comprise this dissertation as well as other radio-related projects which fed the work: Galen Joseph-Hunter and Tom Roe offreel03point9.org, Darren Copeland and Nadene Therieaux-Copeland of New Adventures in Sound Art, Elisabeth Zimmerman and Heidi Grandmann at ORF Kunstradio, Jennifer Fisher and Jim Drobnick of DisplayCult, Sabine Breitsameter and Radio Revolten, Janine Marchessault, Michael Prokapow, Martina Gross and Radio Tesla, Lex Bhagat and ((audience)), Silence Radio, Radiophonic 07, RIXC, Owen Chapman, Kim Sawchuk, Brandon LaBelle, Andrea Langlois, Marion van der Zon, Ron Sakolsky, Jean Routhier and the Surrey Art Gallery, Ashok Mathur, Ricardo Reis, and Paulo Raposo, Walter Philips Gallery/ Radio Free Banff, The Western Front, the Radia network, Jonathan Berger and Carr Wilkerson, CKUT FM Montreal, and CKLN Toronto (may you rise again!). This dissertation has benefited immensely from conversation with and inspiration from colleagues, friends, and mentors, including (but not limited to) Knut Aufermann, Steve Bates, Hank Bull, Susie Burpee, Dinahbird, Chantal Dumas, Mario Gauthier, Dana Gingras, Justin Groeteluschen, Heidi Grandmann, Tim Hecker, Ame Henderson, Derek Holzer, Tianna Kennedy, Sophia Lerner, Tetsuo Kogawa, Diana McArthy, Joe Milutis, jake moore, Jay Needham, Seamus O'Donnell, Gascia Ouzounian, Shawn Pinchbeck, Helene Prevost, Ricardo Reis, Jean-Phillipe Renoult, Tara Rodgers, Kristen Roos, Kim Sawchuk, Pit Schultz, Julie Shapiro, Nancy Tobin, Tobias Van Veen, Sarah Washington, Ellen Waterman, and the members of L.O.T: Experiments in Urban Research. Presiding guardian angel and provocateur: Gregory Whitehead. VI I have also been so fortunate as to enjoy the love, support, and tolerance of many wonderful friends, including Jan Desrosiers; my cherished fellow doctoral sloggers Jason Rovito, Steven Logan, Bojana Videkanic, Lynn Chalmers, and the Lansdowne Cabal; my most accommodating housemates Claire Pfeiffer, Suzanne Carlsen, and Evalyn Parry (and Suzanne Robertson) who fed and watered and tended to me when I seemed at risk of going to seed; and especially the support of Alexandra Diebel, who so often raised my spirits and offered unbridled encouragement. Finally, this work is dedicated to my parents, and to my beau Geoff Guy, whose intelligence, love, good humour, patience, and hot tofu always save the day. vn TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv 1. From Radiation to Resonance 1 The Radio of the Future 8 A few words about women and technologies of sound reproduction and transmission 25 Theories of Technology: The thing about humans and things 31 Transception 47 Against Schizophonia 54 Resonance 68 2. Making Radio to Think Radio 75 Research-Creation 80 Creation as Research 91 Transmission Ecology: Hertzian Space and Radiogenic Actors 94 Listening to Waves 101 Minor Media 113 Making Radio Art 120 3. Radio as Instrument 124 The Aetherphone Theremin 128 Playing with Waves: Tetsuo Kogawa, Tonic Train, and Absolute Value of Noise 135 Vlll Learning to Collaborate with Waves 142 You are far from us and Respire 151 Domestic Wireless, Dust 161 Conclusion 166 4. The Joy Channel 168 Radiovisionen: 250 Years of Radio 172 Introducing The Joy Channel 175 "And now a word from Dr. Brain...." 182 The Joy Channel, first and second iterations 189 Of Apocalypse and Utopia: Estrangement and Novum 197 The End is Just Pretend: Philip K. Dick vs. Doris Lessing 206 Empathy and Altruism 218 The Joy Channel: third iteration 223 5. Coda: The Radio of the Future Redux 230 Extra-terrestrial Radio Encounters 238 Becoming Animal, Becoming Radio 243 Appendix A: Presentation History for You are