Resonancen


' Radiolabor Radiolabor

"Radiolabor" (Radio Laboratory) works on possibilities of producing radio autonomously and independently, despite the radio network monopoly.

It began by producing broadcasts on tape and by distributing these. A possibility which goes far beyond the actual intentions of dealing with the medium. The idea was realized much earlier, in November 91, in the project "Radiolabor" in the "Offenes Kulturhaus" in Linz. For a whole week broadcasting was live from a studio set up in a hall in the OK. The individual contributions were produced entirely by the different program makers themselves, with no editorial handicaps.

This project is strongly orientated on the idea of "Free Radio", a possibility of organizing radio, not yet legalized in Austria. The existence of these "Free Radios" and how they operate, was documented in "Radiolabor" in the form of an exhibition.

In Austria there is (in addition to the desperate attempts by the government to throw together a private radio legislation) a very strong movement coming from interested radio parties who want to actively cooperate in liberalizing the radio legislation. Within the scope of these efforts, the "Pressure Group Free Radio" has already presented a legislative draft which foresees that free radio operators have equal entitlement to licensing.

As many other groups "Radiolabor" is aiming at filling the Austrian air with non-commercial and independent programs with their own broadcasting installation and declares its full and utter solidarity with the demands of the "Pressure Group Free Radio", in terms of opening up the frequencies for everyone. "Radiolabor" is a changing group of young Linz cultural activists and artists who reform depending on the project. Participating in the project "Resonances" are:

Bert Estl, activist from the cultural association KAPU, organizational manager of "Radiolabor" in the "Offenes Kulturhaus".

Rudolf Danielczyk, artificial light artist, coordinator of media-political activities.

Christoph Fürst, student at the Academy of Art (metal), graphic artist.

Walter Nadler, student at the University of Art (visual production), musician, media artist.

Thomas Pichler, student (informatics), musician, moderation and production at "Radiolabor".

MarkVoika, sound technologist at "Radiolabor", musician.

Besides the afore-mentioned realistic policy demands, "Radiolabor" is a laboratory in the true sense of the word; a research workshop and experimental field."Free Radio" will not take over the broadcasting structures employed in Austria, but will consider the possibilities of the medium and will prepare new concepts. Bert Brecht and Kurt Weill already provided theories in this direction at the beginning of the radio era, questioning the absolute distribution nature of the medium.

This conceptual model also influenced John Cage, among others, who used the radio as a sound producer in his media compositions. "Radiolabor" deals with new possibilities of reporting in the "Resonances" project -along the lines of these original thinkers,– and in taking part in a social event modelled on Ars Electronica.

The aim behind this project is to create a new language, a new form of documentation which corresponds to the experimental nature of Ars Electronica. "Resonances" is just as much documentation as it is an independent work of art, just as much a confrontation with the theme of the festival as an exploration of the possiblities of the medium radio.

Ars Electronica provides a number of sound events which, in a condensed form, gives rise to a shortened form of a radio feature focussing on the goings-on in situ. Carefully selected fragments of acoustic "objets trouvés" are processed together with consciously provoked and even pre-produced sound material to form a new independent work of art; assembled to form a daily review. It is not the aim of "Radiolabor" to just simply report about the goings-on at the festival; it is more a matter of conveying impressions to listeners. These sound collages do not provide an excess of information, they leave a lot of freedom and scope to the own imagination and consequently unfold new listening habits. "Resonances" should and must not be a commentary of the festival, but rather a mosaic-type amalgam, a subjective listening experience and report, a fragmentary listening feature of the days and nights happenings at Ars Electronica.

"Radiolabor" will have its studio installed in the foyer of "Brucknerhaus", where the program is produced and broadcast live. In order to give the visitors an insight into the activities of the laboratory, listening installations will be setup at suitable points where the previous day's program can be heard.

"Radiolabor" will be broadcasting live at the following times:
June 22 – 26: 9:05 to 9:55 p.m. on 03 local Upper Austrian radio, (USW 88.8 Mhz)
Thursday, June 25: 10:15 to 11:00 p.m. on 61 Kunstradio