UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO High Static, Dead Lines: Sonic Spectres & the Object Hereafter A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism with a Concentration in Art Practice by Kristen Brooks Committee in charge: Professor Norman Bryson, Chair Professor Brian Cross Professor David Serlin Professor Lesley Stern Professor Mariana Wardwell 2017 Copyright Kristen Brooks, 2017 All rights reserved. Signature Page The Dissertation of Kristen Brooks is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2017 iii Dedication With special thanks to those who have read and edited things, travelled with me (and put up with me), encouraged me and provided opportunities and new connections—each playing their own wildly different forms of mentorship: Bernie Brooks, Dave Tompkins, and Steve Aldana. With thanks to faculty who have worked with me closely or have had an especially great impact on my creative and critical processes: Stanley Rosenthal (RIP) and Evan Larson at Wayne State University; Daniel Wojcik at University of Oregon; Norman Bryson, Mariana Wardwell, Lesley Sterne, Brian Cross and David Serlin at UC San Diego. My colleagues at The Henry Ford, who think through things with me every day, and whose support and belief in me along the path to becoming a professional curator has been paramount: Marc Greuther, Lisa Korsetz, and Jeanine Head Miller. Shout out to Mark Fisher in the hauntological afterlife. iv Epigraph Sometimes the dolls of the Hopi Indians of New Mexico have heads which represent, schematically, a medieval castle. I shall try to enter that castle. There are no doors; the ramparts have the thickness of a thousand centuries. It is not in ruins, as you might think. Benjamin Péret v Table of Contents Table of Contents Signature Page ......................................................................................................... iii Dedication ............................................................................................................... iv Epigraph ................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents .................................................................................................... vi Vita .......................................................................................................................... xi Abstract of the Dissertation ................................................................................... xii Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 i. Summoning the Sonic Spectre .............................................................................. 1 ii. Draining Away Opacities .....................................................................................7 iii. Whistling into Walls ............................................................................................ 9 iv. Gut Feelings / Troubled Things .......................................................................... 12 Section One: Dead Lines .................................................................................. 18 Electric Line Events ............................................................................................ 18 We are Not Yet Experts: The Mimetic Dead, Paranormal Acoustics, and the Medium Jesse Shepard ....................................................................................... 21 i. Communication & Mortality ............................................................................. 22 ii. Paranormal Music ............................................................................................. 27 iii. Mechanical Mediumship ................................................................................... 32 iv. Bookends ............................................................................................................ 34 v. Weird House of Ghosts, This ............................................................................. 37 vi vi. Supernatural Execution..................................................................................... 42 vii. “I Can’t Believe We Live Here…” ....................................................................... 46 viii. Shepard’s Final Performance ............................................................................ 48 Elizabeth Street Apports ..................................................................................... 52 Section Two: Up There ..................................................................................... 54 Nothing is Static in The Tides: From the Sea to Mars with Charles Francis Jenkins ................................................................................................................ 54 i. Stand by for Weather Map ................................................................................ 54 ii. Turn me on, Dead Man ....................................................................................... 61 Book Street Skies ................................................................................................ 73 Squier’s Music for the Trees ............................................................................... 75 Radio Cadiz: Up the Hatch with the Piccards .................................................... 81 Section Three: Frequencies ............................................................................ 86 Tune in to the Tummy: Vladmir Zworykin’s Radio Pill ..................................... 86 Charles Apgar & Sordid Frequencies.................................................................. 89 Calling, Haunting ................................................................................................ 95 All Together Now, Speaking on a Beam of Light: An Impure History of the Maser and Laser .................................................................................................. 96 i. Assembly ............................................................................................................ 96 ii. Chatter .............................................................................................................. 101 iii. Purity ................................................................................................................ 105 iv. Dazzle ............................................................................................................... 106 vii v. LASER: ART: MEDIUM .................................................................................. 108 vi. Novelty .............................................................................................................. 112 vii. Darkside ............................................................................................................ 114 Hello My Name is Votrax ................................................................................... 118 Fetch X. (Living Ghost Lifts up the Receiver) .................................................. 124 i. X Reports .......................................................................................................... 124 ii. X Loop ............................................................................................................... 126 iii. Fear of X ............................................................................................................ 127 iv. X Unbound ........................................................................................................ 128 v. Fetch X. ............................................................................................................. 132 Section Four: Broadcast ................................................................................ 133 We Haunt You While You Watch: TV Hijackings, [The Eerie in the Middle, and Cochlear Control .................... 133 i. Ears that Ring like Test Tones .......................................................................... 133 ii. The Grinning Horror ........................................................................................ 136 iii. “Be Still Now and Listen” .................................................................................. 137 iv. The Eerie in the Middle (Transcription) .......................................................... 139 v. New Wave Pirate .............................................................................................. 142 vi. Stacking the Signals ......................................................................................... 145 vii. Phreaking Evasion ............................................................................................148 viii. Double Ghost Waves ......................................................................................... 151 viii War, Wires, Magnets ........................................................................................ 158 We Bridge the Dead / Breakthrough ................................................................ 163 Section Five: Playing the Spectre .................................................................172