Presented by USC Roski School of Fine Art’s MA Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere Program, class of 2012
April 14–27, 2012
Media Contact: Adrienne White, [email protected]
Radio Break is an exhibition on the air, presenting twelve artworks in locations throughout Los Angeles conveyed through low-power radio transmissions during two weeks and live events held on two consecutive weekends. Radio Break connects participants with the ambient sounds of the city, inviting them to tune in to its history, noise, narratives, and music.
A way-finding map and interactive website accompany the exhibition and provide details about the projects and their locations. Listed below is the exhibition schedule; for more information see radio-break.com.
Saturday, April 14th
4–6pm
Union Station, 800 N. Alameda Street
Alyce Santoro’s Between Stations explores how cities are aurally experienced by turning New York City subway sounds into music that contrasts with the movements of Los Angeles’s transportation hub.
6–9pm
Opening EVENT AND RECEPTION
La Serenata Restaurant, 1842 E. 1st Street
Brandon LaBelle and collaborators recorded their own versions of conversations overheard on the streets of Santiago de Chile to create The Echo Project.
Lincoln Tobier revisits The Orchestra Pit Theory by Roger Ailes, a theatrical work based on a single Fox News transcript exploring the genre of the news broadcast, affect, and subjectivity. Coinciding with the transmissions will be a reception with light refreshments.
SUNDAY, APRIL 15th
10 am–2pm
MacArthur Park, Wilshire Boulevard and S. Park View Street
Brendan Threadgill reconfigures the Los Angeles Times “Crime Map” with Incident Reports 2003–2011 (MacArthur Park Homicides), using sound to mark the sites of lives lost throughout the city.
Arnoldo Vargas’s Triggernometry and the Cartography of Sound gives voice to Wilmington residents by broadcasting their distant concerns to Angelenos and the city at a remove. This is a preview of weeks’ worth of recording to be presented in full at a listening event on Saturday, April 20th at Slanguage Studio in Wilmington.
10 am–2pm
El Pueblo, 125 Paseo De La Plaza
Pedro Reyes sources digital voice messages from Angelenos, making public the private lives of anonymous city residents with the work VMR: Voice Mail Radio.
Saturday, April 21st
All events at LACE, 6522 Hollywood Boulevard
1–4pm
Lucy Raven presents the audio play Con Air 2, a record of actual events—the artists’ friends at play, communicating via walkie-talkie—exhibited within a fictionalized setting.
1–5pm
LIVE PERFORMANCE
Vanessa Place reads Full Audio Transcripts, a selection from the logs of the Federal Aviation Administration, North American Aerospace Defense Command, and American Airlines on September 11, 2001, a narrative of the tragedy before comprehension or memorialization.
5–6pm
LIVE PERFORMANCE
2 Headed Dog (Jim Turner, Mark Fite, and Dave “Gruber” Allen) presents Clowntown City Limits, a radio play telling the desperate tale of out-of-work hobo clowns. Viewers can listen to the broadcast and interact with two of the characters.
Sunday, April 22nd
All events at 6020 WILSHIRE (The new ForYourArt space), 6020 Wilshire Boulevard
2–6pm
Richard T. Walker intervenes into Los Angeles’s visual and radiophonic space, telling the absurdist tale of one man’s quest to find the words to speak when language no longer suffices in between distance and a mountain.
3–5pm
Elana Mann asks us to tune into the concerns of Angelenos affected by the financial crisis by listening to the carols of the People’s Microphony Camerata.
6–9pm
LIVE PERFORMANCE and RECEPTION
David Schafer’s Cage Mix: Static Age reconceives a selection of John Cage’s compositions through live electronic and processed improvisation performed alongside an accompanying installation. A reception will follow Schafer’s performance.
A listening station with all projects will be at 6020 Wilshire through April 27th.
USC Roski School of Fine Arts: roski.usc.edu
