We Can See Edith by Radio

We See Edith by Radio

We Can See Edith by Radio is a 3:00 sound art work that responds to the question, "What is the audible form—the sound—of the intermediary, and what does this entity (person, myth, animal) herald?" To me, the intermediary is radio. We Can See Edith by Radio provides one tuning.

Exhibitions

the wrong Juried exhibition, international
Disjunction Notice: A Poetry Archive
Curated by Colin Post
The Wrong Digital Art Biennale
Information and Library Science Library
The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
1 Nov. 2019-1 Mar. 2020

The Wrong Digital Art Biennale is a global art and media project to nurture contemporary digital culture. The Wrong Biennale consists of multiple parts, distributed globally, ranging from gallery shows and exhibitions to more DIY gatherings. One part is exhibitions and/or projects hosted on the wrong routers, limited edition bespoke routers providing digital content within range of their built in Wi-Fi range, without connection to the Internet. Disjunction Notice: A Poetry Archives is an offline group show of selected projects participating in The Wrong Biennale and hosted exclusively on a wrong router.

Earlid logo Liminal Sounds
Juried exhibition, international
Earlid
4 February-4 May 2016
One of ten international sound art works selected for the second annual "Liminal Sounds" exhibition at Earlid, curated by Joan Schuman. Earlid is an online gallery of evolving exhibits of sound art. The exhibition theme was The Intermediary. Responses to the exhibition theme were to be short (1-5 minutes). My work We Can See Edith by Radio is here.

Background

I created and submitted We Can See Edith by Radio in response to an international open call for the second annual "Liminal Sounds" exhibition at Earlid, curated by Joan Schuman. We Can See Edith by Radio was one of ten sound works selected.

Timeline and Content

00:00-3:00
Harbor ambience
Recorded November 2015, Inner Harbor, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

00:00-2:58
Stardust
Sample from "Passing Comet Tempel 1," NASA Soundcloud.

00:06
Dawson
Sample from Track #8, Ghost Orchid: An Introduction to EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena), Ash International, 2006.

00:10-00:16
Light Curve Waves to Sound I
Sample from "Star KIC12268220C Light Curve Waves to Sound," NASA Soundcloud.

00:15-00:16
Chorus radio waves
Sample from "Chorus Radio Waves within Earth's Atmosphere," NASA Soundcloud.

00:16-00:57
Light Curve Waves to Sound II
Sample from "Star KIC7671081B Light Curve Waves to Sound," NASA Soundcloud.

00:18
Jesus
Sample from Track #16, Ghost Orchid.

00:22
Radio Luxembourg
Sample from Track #17, Ghost Orchid.

00:27-00:37
I've made it!
Sample from Track #28, Ghost Orchid.

00:28-00:52
Out of this world
Sample from Track #23, Ghost Orchid.

00:37-1:26
Helium whistle
Sample from "Strange Whistle of Ultra-Cold Liquid Helium-3," NASA Spooky Space Sounds.

00:37-2:14
Chorus radio waves
Sample from "Chorus Radio Waves within Earth's Atmosphere," NASA Soundcloud.

01:20-1:44
Radio waves from Ganymede
Sample from "Weird Radio Transmissions Gathered from Jupiter's Largest Moon, Ganymede," NASA Spooky Space Sounds.

00:57-1:15
Mrs. Green
Sample from Track #34, Ghost Orchid.

1:15-1:20
We can hear Edith by radio
Sample from Track #51, Ghost Orchid.

1:25-1:31
Dead machines
Sample from Track #45, Ghost Orchid.

1:31-3:00
This is a recorded message from your man in service
Sample from J.H. Anderson, recorded message on 45rpm record to his mother Mrs. Carl Anderson, Shrewsbury, MA, reporting on his experiences at United States Naval Air Station, Dallas, Texas, during World War II.

1:33-1:43
Exalted visitor
Sample from Track #54, Ghost Orchid.

1:51-1:57
Cosmic Race
Sample from Track #47, Ghost Orchid.

2:07-2:12
Sistrenatus
Sample from Track #70, Ghost Orchid.

2:12-2:18
This pressure
Sample from Track #64, Ghost Orchid.

2:18-2:36
Una
Sample from Track #68, Ghost Orchid.

2:36-2:43
Schallplatten
Sample from Track #66, Ghost Orchid.

2:43-2:52
There are probably millions now
Sample from Track #73, Ghost Orchid.

2:46-3:00
Chorus radio waves
Sample from "Chorus Radio Waves within Earth's Atmosphere," NASA Soundcloud.

A second submission, Darkness, also focusing on the audible form of the intermediary, was not selected. The intermediary is the inner voice, encouraging / discouraging our undertakings with alternating emphasis. Darkness imagines such a dialogue in the mind of a young woman walking to a hospital with eyes covered ("for good practice") where she will undergo an operation that will either save her failing eyesight, or result in permanent blindness. In this radio drama produced with students at the Audio Drama Seminar, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 2014, the intermediary heralds the uncertainly that lies ahead, in the darkness.

Metadata

Object: Sound art
Format: Audio file
Bit Rate: 356kbs
Duration: 5:00
Created: 2016
Creator: John F. Barber

Artist Statement

Soon after its arrival, during the first decade of the twentieth century, radio technology was considered a possible communication channel with spirit spectrums, parallel dimensions, even alien worlds. With its sound(s) arriving through the ether, heralding hearing from and being heard by others in alternate realities, radio was to be the intermediary. Sampling The Ghost Orchid: An Introduction to EVP and electromagnetic radio signals from space recorded by NASA, We Can See Edith by Radio provides one tuning, an idea of what might be heard. I first explored this idea of using radio to communicate with alternate realities in Contact.