Walker Art Center's Radio Re-Volt Project Concludes with University Avenue Broadcast and Two-Day Conference
Walker Art Center artists-in-residence Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, in collaboration with the Walker’s Teen Arts Council (WACTAC), conclude their _
Radio Re-Volt: One Person .ooOne Watt
_ project with two events that bring together a collective of voices reasserting their power over the media. To hear what democracy sounds like, tune in to 97.7 FM for the
University Avenue Broadcast
from 12 noon–9 pm Thursday, October 28, to take in the diversity of ideas, music, conversations, and random noises as they are broadcast live from more than 50 homes, businesses, and community centers along University Avenue. On Friday and Saturday, October 29 and 30, the Walker and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) present the two-day conference
RAD: Radio, Access, Democracy
at MCAD. The conference brings together local, national, and international voices to explore the radio’s creative, social, and political potential.
Running through the 2004 election, Radio Re-Volt has unfolded against the backdrop of the most media-saturated presidential campaign in U.S. history as well as the quickly evolving and controversial rules being adopted by the FCC regarding media consolidation. Through residency activities, the artists and WACTAC have built public awareness and ignited discussion around issues of radio access and control, independent media, free speech, democracy, and citizenship. “A democratic society,” said Thomas Jefferson, “depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.” Radio Re-Volt is a radically democratic project that gives individuals direct access to the media that informs us.
Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla’s residency is made possible by generous support from The Wallace Foundation.
University Avenue Broadcast
Thursday, October 28, 12 noon–9 pm, Free
From the railyards of Northeast Minneapolis to the U of M, Midway, Frogtown, and the State Capitol, University Avenue encompasses what the Twin Cities are made of. This live event, broadcast on 97.7 FM, will offer a diversity of ideas, music, conversations, and random noises emanating from area homes, businesses, and community centers.
Conference
RAD: Radio, Access, Democracy
Friday, October 29, 7 pm
Saturday, October 30, 10:30 am–5 pm and 7:30 pm, Free
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
2501 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis
Organized in partnership with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, this two-day event brings together local, national, and international voices to explore the media’s creative and political potential. Pre-register by e-mailing morgan.wylie@walkerart.org; walk-ins welcome.
Speakers include:
– Tetsuo Kogawa (Japan), microradio pioneer (http://anarchy.k2.tku.ac.jp)
– Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla (Puerto Rico), creators of Radio Re-Volt, Walker Artists-in-Residence
(http://latitudes.walkerart.org/artists/index.wac?id=269 and http://projects.walkerart.org)
– Tom Roe, Damien Catera, and Ben Owen (NY) from Free103point9, an organization dedicated to radio as an artistic media (http://www.screwmusicforever.com/free103/freemenu.html)
– John Anderson (IL) from DIYmedia.net
– Michael Lahey (MPLS), filmmaker/director of Making Waves (jumpcutfilms.com/makingwaves)
– Paul Riismandel (WI) from mediageek.org
– Hannah Sassman (PA) from the Prometheus Radio Project (http://www.prometheusradio.org)
– Anthony Huberman (NY) from Moma/PS1’s radio project (wps1.org)
Friday, 7 pm, Keynote Speech
Tetsuo Kogawa, artist/philosopher, tells how he introduced micro-radio to Japan in the early 1980s, which gave birth to its mini-FM movement.
Saturday, 10:30 am
Welcome and Announcements
Saturday, 10:45 am-12:15 pm
Panel Discussion: What’s Up with the FCC?
Saturday, 10:45 am-12:15 pm
Panel Discussion: Counter Propaganda Coalition’s Media Workshop
Saturday, 12 noon-5 pm
Independent Media Fair: discover the wealth of independent media in the Twin Cities. Free copies of the Minneapolis Observer, Utne, Adbusters, and more—or bring your own information to share.
Saturday, 12 noon
Making Waves: film by Michael Lahey. A group of unlicensed radio station operators in Tucson, Arizona, wage a First Amendment war with the FCC, the NAB, and ultimately themselves.
Saturday, 12:30 pm
Radio Re-Volt Workshop: Come to a free, 90-minute workshop and turn your bike, apartment, work cubicle, or car into a low-power radio station.
Saturday, 1:30-3 pm
Panel Discussion: Radio as an Artistic Medium
Saturday, 3:15-4:45 pm
Panel Discussion: Making Alternative Media
Saturday, 7:30 pm
Radio 4X4 Performance: New York artists Tom Roe, Damien Catera, and Ben Owen collaborate with local artist Abinadi Meza to create music broadcasted simultaneously on boomboxes turned to four different radio frequencies.