sound, place and global reach

i was pointed to a video by a radio aporee contributor a few days ago:
Piccolo Teatro Sonoro: A sonic statement by Binaural/Nodar

it emphasizes on the formula "local not global", and "tries to defend the  problematization of the possibilities for a regionalist [...] approach",  against "globalized tendencies, such as world sound maps". since there are not so many world sound maps around, i somehow took it personal (well, not so seriously...) and wrote these lines (not only) as  a response.
 
first, i perfectly follow the ideas and concepts of locality and region,  i think nodar does great work here, from what i know from friends who have been there, from collegues and (global...) media. however, to simply put it in opposition to practises related to mapping, archiving and sharing of sound recordings, misses the point a bit. at least i think so, and i can only talk for myself here of course, maybe also from conversations  with friends, collegues and contributors. so this is rather a private view on a project i love, skip here if you expect theory.

the whole aporee soundmap thing began as a reaction to the lack and  loss of sense of place, the personal experience of decreasing sensitivity for things "in between", the absence of resonance in my relationship to the surrounding world.

so, the first sound map draft was the result of bad mood... (and of course  some interests, skills, backgrounds from way older works between art,  science, media etc.). sound as such was central and essential, since  it has always been a path or access to space and place.

it wasn't planned as a global or even public project, i shared it with friends, we experimented with phones calls, found material, location/field recordings, also the possibility of narratives in between media and real surroundings.  well, friends told their friends about it, and when the first recording from Asia arrived, it became "world-wide". there's still no login needed for participation, it doesn't have these fancy "social" features of actual "crowd-sourced" commercial platforms of any sort, which only work for turnover and nothing else, no matter how useful and convenient they are, and, btw, establish new models of labour and exploitation which i find at least questionable. the radio aporee platform is a one man show, "hand-made", self-financed, and has never received any funding. didn't apply though...

focus shifted soon towards sounds from places and situations, field recordings and such, as "raw" as possible. editing, composition, mixing etc. obviously weakend the experience of presence, intensity and the listening experience, while looking at a geographic map. (i admit, web sites and interfaces suck over time, google maps too. i don't like it but there's no alternative so far on that scale and detail). 

that's what it's also about: long time "exposition" of places, deep listening,  connectivity, evocation of Proustian moments of complex perception... that's one side, on the other there are people who probably have spent 1000s of  hours at real places listening, recording, later preparing and uploading  the material for documentation and sharing with others. sure there are a quite lot of sounds captured en passant, in touristic mode when travelling around with small pocket recorders. and these are often great, real situations, ephemeral ambiences, moments at places. many others are phonography, field recordings in the best sense, a form of art, just perfect. i've listened to almost all of them, and 10000+ listeners do so every month since years.

the nodar video suggests that the soundmap "engulfs" individual approaches and discredits (or enforces the recogniton of) the recordist/contributor as a indefatigable sound tourist. i think that's wrong, not sure where this idea comes from, surely not from listening to the actual recordings. i understand that some feel uncomfortable with the amount of contributions, in all their different qualities, the flattening perspective of the map maybe, and insist on distinction, for whatever reason. zoom in, go to the details, listen to the indivdual sounds, that  may change your perspective.

my observations are different anyway. there are countless examples of deep and intense examination of spaces and places by sound. some are visiting the ever same place for  years now, documenting subtle changes in their local surrounding, others do extended  research, individually, in groups or educational contexts, of neighbourhoods, areas,  regions and subjects of interest, and so on. they use the site for their own projects and visibility. not to mention the friendships, encounters, beers and coffee had, the permanent exchange, collaborations and even the living some are able to generate out of it. that's quite the opposite of "global" or globalisation. BUT: it has a global reach, that makes it  possible and interesting, we're exchanging ears and sharing experiences from otherwise  mostly unreachable places. for me it re-enabled and activated a formerly lost or inaccessible space. that's in the very sense of the initial idea of the aporee soundmap. glad about it. stay tuned.

bx - bROADCAST BOx

so, as announced, here's the first result from recent bricolage works... : the bx!
it's a mobile radio device for entering, exploring and playing with different media spaces more or less simultaneously, at almost any location.

some facts and figures:

• a 0-15W stereo FM transmitter can enter the whole FM radio band, 88-108MHz
• the sender is connected to a small USB 5channel mixer/soundcard connected to an eee pc, equipped with various audio and streaming software.
• the main mix (2 stereo lines, 1 mic line, and computer's audio sum) can be broadcasted to FM and a (e.g. radio aporee) streaming server at the same time (wifi or 3G network given).
• optionally, the telephone network and radio aporee mobile interfaces (app etc.) can mix into the stream/broadcast too. things to do here...
• the unit is powered by a 10Ah battery (+ netbook accu) at 5V/USB and 12V, optionally supported by a 10W solar charching unit if weather conditions are fine. that should give some hours of independant outdoor operation...
• the only thing that doesn't fit into the box for now is the FM antenna. working on...

some pictures:

bx - transport mode

bx - full operation mode

bx - removable solar unit attached

bx - detail view: FM, netbook streamer, power supply

next step is to fine tune the box, set audio and signal levels, and test its range in various conditions (antenna on the roof, in the field, on a hill, etc.). a set of wireless microphones would fit the concept perfectly... more to come, stay tuned...

radio activity

I've recently focussed again on the radio aspects of radio aporee. within the last years, it has continuously played recordings from its global soundmap project. however, it has now turned into an adaptive/reactive/sensorial stream that may (or may not...) recognise and react to events and acivity, e.g. new sound uploads, listeners tuning in, mobile app activity, live input, phone calls, emails etc. it's an ongoing experiment to explore extended concepts and practises related to sound/art and radio, tune in with your favourite player or open on the web.

not everything is working yet, but while listening for many hours during recent weeks, i quite often had the exciting experience of what i'd call radio space:  ephemeral sonic narratives formed by chance and whatever activities, a connectivity cross media and geography, and an intriguing sense of presence and place. of course, all that wouldn't be possible without the many great contributions to the aporee soundmap.

Further, within these radio acticities, i've started working on a piece called bx, broadcast box. it's a portable box containing an 15W FM stereo transmitter, a small 5-channel USB mixer/soundcard, optionally a computer with WIFI and 3G networking, and an energy unit consisting of a 10 or 20W solar panel, control unit and a 12V/10Ah battery for powering the whole thing. the bx will be able to
send, receive and mix between the internet and FM airwaves from any location where a network is available. currently i'm sorting the parts, more on that soon, stay tuned...

radio aporee ::: mariborMaps

Within the last months, Patrick McGinley and I have worked on an soundmap of Maribor, Slovenia, during the European Capital of Culture 2012 events, in the frame of the project AS WE SPEAK, by Goethe Institut Ljubljana. The results are quite nice, also thanks to the participation of local artists Petra Kapš, Ana Pečar and Andrej Hrvatin.  Listen to the recordings on the radio aporee ::: maps website.

One of my favourite spots is the flour mill near main station. When in action, its hypnotic sounds can be heard all over the place, for example in Mestni park (recordings taken during a soccer match in the nearby stadium). Surprisingly, most of the Maribor people have never recognized it.

Patrick, Petra and Andrej at work at a small chapel in St.Urban, in the hills near Maribor. Patrick recorded rain in the gutter with his great DIY contact mics.


During the MariborMaps project development, nearly 200 recordings (and still growing) have been gathered from the city and its surroundings. The sound installation MariborMaps for mobiles is a projection of the overall soundmap into an area located around Trg Leona Stuklja. Relative directions are kept as much as possible, so listeners may explore a selection of sounds from Maribor within a comfortable walking distance, from Vinarje to Tezno, and from Mariborski Otok to Melje. The installation is accessible via the radio aporee app for Android phones and will be available at least until the end of 2012. See also MariborMaps for mobiles.

Global 4'33"

We've recently received an invitation from the World Listening Project, to join a special birthday party.

So, here at radio aporee Berlin, we've celebrated John Cage's 100th birthday with a small performance of 4'33" for 2 players (Henrik Schröder, Udo Noll), 2 cymbals and 2 tuning forks, along with a screening of the film "4 american composers. vol. 1: John Cage" directed by Peter Greenaway in 1983.

  

photo by Max Holle

Listen to a recording of the performance

In order to extend our audience, i've set up my mobile pirate radio station. the event was broadcasted on the frequency of a pretty shitty station here in Berlin... so we've probably reached quite a lot of listeners...). Here you see the DIY antenna hooked up outside of the space.

Henrik Schröder did a recording of the broadcast as it could be heard with a transistor radio out in the streets, along with some surounding sounds.

World Listening Day 2011

radio aporee participates on the 2nd World Listening Day. read more
about here: http://aporee.org/wld2011/

D-Radio-Ortung ::: 50 Aktenkilometer ::: a walk-in Stasi radio play

the cooperation of Deutschlandradio Kultur and radio aporee continues with a project of german artist collective RIMINI PROTOKOLL. the project starts on May 17, 2011.

Rimini Protokoll haul the Stasi files out of the archives and into the
city's present: About a hundred people in Berlin's Mitte district are
surveyed and for the microphone recollect or reconstruct observations of
the sites where the misdeeds were perpetrated. A strange picture-puzzle
is created for the users, who have the everyday life familiar to us now
in view and original recordings from that time in their ears.
read more at http://www.rimini-protokoll.de/website/en/project_4969.html (english project description) and http://dradio-ortung.de/50km.html (german).