Kunstradio presents the new curated by series “Curated by Wave Farm: Climactic Climate”, which opens with “Weather For The Blind” by Quintron (2015)
on air: Kunstradio April 26th, 11pm
on line: http://kunstradio.at/2015A/26_04_15.html, http://www.weatherfortheblind.org,
http://transmissionarts.org/work/avz0w4
[rssless] Weather For The Blind is on Mixlr [/rssless]
Created for Wave Farm’s broadcast series “Climactic Climate,” commissioned by Ö1 Kunstradio – Radiokunst in Vienna, Weather For The Blind is an hour-long audio distillation of a day in the life of weather in the artist Quintron’s hometown, New Orleans, Louisiana as translated by his environmentally interactive musical instrument Weather Warlock. Built by Quintron in New Orleans, Louisiana and Captiva, Florida, Weather Warlock is comprised of outdoor sensors, which translate changes in sunlight, wind speed, rainfall, temperature, and other natural elements, into electronic signals. “The brain” of Weather Warlock is a large analog drone synthesizer, which uses weather signals to modulate a bedrock E-major chord. Perhaps the most dramatic sounds in Weather For The Blind come from a small UV detector pointed directly at the sky. Quintron designed this “sky sensor” to respond to the radical changes in light that happen during sunrise and sunset. An overcast day, a very bright moon, or a lightning storm also dramatically affects this sensor, creating eerie warbling moans. Writes Quintron, “I find E-major to be a powerful yet soothing chord which can become quite hypnotic over long periods of time. My hope is that this weather music might produce the aural equivalent to the feeling that we get by staring into a fire or at the ocean–relaxed and placid, yet stimulated by subtle random flux. In the one-hour long composition, created for broadcast, I have recorded highlights of the Weather Warlock instrument doing its thing at different times of day and under different atmospheric conditions. I have provided brief voiceovers introducing each segment so that listeners will know the time of day and what the weather was like during each recording.” The title “Weather For The Blind” is in reference to a circadian rhythm sleep disorder suffered by many sight impaired persons. Quintron’s project-at-large is a constant and evolving convergence of sound and nature. Listeners can access a live stream of the Weather Warlock 24 hours a day at www.weatherforthelblind.org.
“Curated by Wave Farm: Climactic Climate” is a five-part series of new radio artworks on the theme of weather radio premiering on Kunstradio, and also airing on Wave Farm’s WGXC-FM in 2015.
The commissioned broadcasts represent a broad spectrum of reflection on transmission in relation to natural environmental conditions. Participating artists harness weather as instrumentation in performance, celebrate the act of environmental observation as compositional score, or imagine and interpret the scientific impact radio transmission has on weather patterns and vice versa.
“Climactic Climate” features works by five international contemporary artists, each of whom approach and interpret conditions of natural radio distinctly.
Participating artists include Quintron (New Orleans, US); Mark Vernon (Glasgow, UK); Pauline Oliveros (New York, US); Anna Ialeggio (Los Angeles, US); and Zach Poff (New York, US).
Based in New York State, Wave Farm is a non-profit arts organization that celebrates creative and community use of media and the airwaves. Wave Farm programs support artists who engage the transmission spectrum, on the airwaves and through public events and include the Wave Farm Artist Residency Program, and international visiting artist program; and the Transmission Arts Archive, a living genealogy of artists’ experiments with broadcast media and the airwaves. Wave Farm’s WGXC-FM is a creative community radio station that commits over 60 hours a week to transmission art and experimental sound.
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Kunstradio – Radiokunst
http://kunstradio.at