radioCona:wolFMoon, FM exhibition and events
12–19 January 2017
FM 88.8MHz, radioCona and on locations.
radioCona emission started on Thursday, 12 January 2017, at the brake of a full moon, on-air at twilight for eight nights in a row. Every evening at 18:20, at the time when day turns into night.
radioCona:wolFMoon presented premiere works by: agapea (Saša Spačal), beepblip, Andrej Hrvatin, OR poises (Petra Kapš), Amper-o-mat (Borut Peternelj), Robertina Šebjanič, Miha Turšič / Špela Petrič, Tea Vidmar / Ana Kravanja, Brane Zorman / Maja Smrekar
beepblip AM_on_FM / sine_wave, 14:05
The AM waves of amplitude modulation broadcasting are highly susceptible to static disruptions. The recordings for the track consist of oscillations, which are more present at night when changes in the ionosphere are causing clearer sine-wave noises. They are taken at 4:05 a.m. when my mind is sharp and saturated.
Curated by Elena Biserna, Irena Pivka, Brane Zorman
Mentors: Elena Biserna, Brane Zorman
Technical team: Brane Zorman, Jan Turk, Marko Trstenjak
Texts: Elena Biserna, Irena Pivka, Jasmina Založnik
Translation: Katja Kosi
Proofreading: Melita Silič, Sunčan Stone
Design: Irena Pivka
Web design: Vesna Bukovec
Public relations: Brane Zorman, Jasmina Založnik
Elena Biserna was a resident artist at JSKD invited by CONA.
Partners of the SLEEP CONCERT: Kino Šiška, 3. program Radio Slovenia – program Ars
Partners of the wolFMoon event: Botanical Gardens, University of Ljubljana
Residency partners: JSKD
Transmission partners: OE Oddajniki in zveze
Thanks to: Radio Arts, Locus Sonus, Sound Camp, Mark Vernon Radiophrenia, Anna Friz
Production: CONA, 2017
CONA programmes are supported by the Department for Culture at the Municipality of Ljubljana,
The ZVO.ČI.TI so.und.ing DUO series supported by the Ministry of Culture RS
Some thoughts on FM white noise and AM sine waves
Unlike empty FM frequencies that produce crackling white noise, empty AM frequencies produce high pitch sine waves; causing sonic resonance, shifting perception and the state of mind.
AMonFM is connected to obsolete technologies and media archaeology. Obsolete electronics are not a thing of nostalgia, but a tool for rethinking the physicality of EM waves connected to their accessibility and materiality of the waves propagating through space that is lost with digitisation.
For this piece, I was tinkering with an old Philips MusiClock FM 22RS204 / 22R radio alarm clock, bought for pennies at a flea market. In line with the proposition of new EU-level legislation that would prolong the life of machines, and compel companies to build sustainable technologies by means of spare parts availability, I believe that a machine should never be discarded as long as it works. The proposition of a new law is, however, to some extent a form of green-washing as a compromise was made to provide the spare parts for merely ten years. I believe that the old Philips was around for at least three times that long. The relation between discarding and repairing is complicated even further if I take into consideration the economy of time. By repairing the radio I get caught up in a time deficit, which is in the first place the reason, I am often waking up at 4:05 a.m. when the AM waves are most alluring.
AM radio frequencies are for me a thing of another time, a pre-internet world, in which the polarisation of Cold War world and the borders that divided it could be surpassed by simply tuning into the radio at night. Digital reality is connecting the world again. Switching off the analogue radio and television stations one by one. In the new world of digital distribution, everything can be at a click of one’s mouse even for the poorest and less privileged or forever locked away by corporations; controlled, monitored, regulated by repressive regimes.
At night, when all the senses are tuned to higher frequencies, the AM radio waves are received with crisp clarity.