RADIO AMATEUR ENSEMBLE

music ensemble / music scores / listening space

Artist Residency with Goethe Pop Up Minneapolis, 2019 
Goethe Institute
Skyway System, Minneapolis, USA
Curated by Sandra Teitge

Radio Amateur Ensemble explores Minneapolis’s ham radio operator networks. Taking the sonic, social and technological aspects of ham radio communication as a starting point for music scores and notations the project develops an ambiguous space for listening and collaborating while invoking and sharing novel sound compositions.

Considering listening as a generative act, Radio Amateur Ensemble invites the visitors into a walkable audio-visual score featuring musical performances, recording sessions, radio archive, and an accompanying podcast. The first iteration of the Radio Amateur Ensemble, arising nomadically in different contexts and locations, is a collaboration with musicians Cole Pulice, Noah Ophoven-Baldwin, and Patrick Marschke. Developed in conversation with ham radio operators Dan Fish (call sign KB0XC) and Scott Woelm (call sign WX0V). R.A.E. invites the audience to take part in the ongoing dialogue exploring amateur radio as a sonic strategy and a dynamic tool manifesting new social constellations, networks and organisms.

Translating research findings sonically and rhythmically during the duration of the project, the compositions developed by the Radio Amateur Ensemble are performed and recorded live during several public events in an open studio working environment. Releasing the recordings on a limited edition 7-inch vinyl marks a dynamic reference point allowing for the project to be taken up and carried out in other contexts and beyond the specificity of the Minneapolises Skyway System.

Photo credits: Anton Kats, Wiley Hoard
Photo retouching: Igor Kritskiy

Further Links:
Goethe In the Skyways
E-Flux