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RADIO GALLERY: THE TRANS-COMMUNICATION LAB
Curated by Carl Michael Von Hausswolff and Lina Dzuverovic (Electra)
Featuring Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Jon Ronson, Olivia Plender, Jacob Kirkegaard with voiceover by Rob Young (The Wire Magazine)
The Old Operating Theatre, 9a St. Thomas St, London, 17 November 2006, 7pm.
Listen to the broadcast
The Trans-Communication Lab is the closing event in the Radio Gallery series of events and radio
programmes, curated by Anna Colin, which examine radio as exhibition space. The event reverses
the overall concept of Radio Gallery by re-imagining physical space as radio and setting up a 60
minute 'broadcast environment' in which a host of artists, researchers and journalists investigate and
demonstrate live attempts at 'interdimensional' communication.
The term Transcommunication in the title references 'Instrumental Trans-communication', a term coined
by the a German physicist, professor Ernst Senkowski, to describe the technique of contacting spirits,
using any electronic means in order to capture their images (ITC), or record their voices (EVP: Electronic
Voice Phenomena).
In the context of this event the term transcommunication is used in a much wider sense, to include all
modes of communication that fall outside of conventional methods of conveying information.
In tonight's event for the fi rst time Danish artist Jacob Kirkegaard's performs live his technique of 'sonic
time layering' in order to evoke the spirit of the space. Kirkegaard will record the sounds of the Old
Operating Theatre live, gradually layering the sound until the inner spirit of the space is evoked, in front
of our very ears.
This evening we will also hear examples of Electronic Voice Phenomena from the archive of Friedrich
Jürgenson, presented by the event's co-curator Carl Michael von Hausswolff. Friedrich Jürgenson
was a painter and film director who came across voices from 'the other side' while listening to field
recordings of birdsongs he had recorded. This led him to a 28-year study of what he believed were
spirits communicating with us through sound recording technologies. He continued his work searching
the origins of his voices that he believed to be derived from the hypothetical afterlife until his death in
Sweden in 1987. The Friedrich Jürgenson Foundation was set up in 2000 my Carl Michael von Hausswolff,
in conjunction with the exhibition 'Friedrich Jürgenson - from the Studio for Audioscopic Research' held
at Färgfabriken, Stockholm Sweeden the same year.
Carl Michael von Hausswolff will also conduct a serial Spiricom transmission in order to
investigate possible spiritual activity within the Old Operating Theatre, by performing a series of different
combinations of 13 sine wave tones between 131 and 701 Hz and sending them, and possibly one or
several spirits, across the room.
Journalist Jon Ronson will read from his book 'The Men Who Stare At Goats' (Simon & Schuster, 2005).
In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known
accepted military practice - and indeed, the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could
adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by
staring at them. With fi rst-hand access to the leading players in the story, in the book Ronson traces the
evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades, and sees how it is alive today within US
Homeland Security and post-war Iraq. In this event Ronson will talks about the use of sound as a torture
mechanism.
Olivia Plender will perform a live ghost story.
About the participants:
Carl Michael von Hausswolff is a composer, visual artist and curator based in Stockholm, Sweden. His
main tools are recording devices (camera, tape deck, radar, sonar) used in an ongoing investigation of
electricity, frequency, architectural space and paranormal electronic interference. He is an expert in
the work of Friedrich Jürgenson, electronic voice phenomena (EVP) a researcher who claimed to have
detected voices of the dead hidden in radio static. Major exhibitions include documenta X (1997), the
Johannesburg Biennial (1997), Sound Art - Sound as Media at ICC in Tokyo (2000), the Venice Biennale
(2001, 2003 and 2005) and Portikus, Frankfurt (2004). Hausswolff received a Prix Ars Electronica award for
Digital Musics in 2002. He is the curator and producer of freq_out.
Olivia Plender researches historical 'alternatives' to industrial society addressing two separate but Olivia Plender researches historical 'alternatives' to industrial society addressing two separate but Olivia Plender
parallel areas: Romanticism and non-conformist religious movements, and their current legacies.
She produces drawings, posters and small-scale publications, as well as performances, lectures and
installations. Recent work includes a comic book set in an imaginary London avant-garde of the past
called 'The Masterpiece' and 'Monitor' performed at Tate Britain 2006. Plender is currently researching
The Modern Spiritualist Movement and The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift, two non-conformist religious
movements from the 19th and early 20th century that overlapped with socialism, the Co-operative
movement and the campaign for women's suffrage. Adopting the methodology of the sociologist as
a kind of role-playing exercise, she has interviewed mediums, parapsychologists, as well as historians
and staged events such as 'A Public Meeting to Address the Phenomenon of Materialization' at Bethnal
Green Working Man's Club, London. She is currently writing a book on this area, titled 'A Stellar Key to
the Summerland', to be published by Bookworks.
Jon Ronson is a writer and documentary fi lm maker. His fi rst book, 'Them: Adventures With Extremists',
was an international bestseller. His most recent book is 'The Men Who Stare At Goats'. 'Them' was
longlisted for The Guardian's First Book Award, until it was disqualifi ed for not being, strictly speaking,
his fi rst book. He began his journalistic career as an award-winning columnist for Time Out. He has
also written the popular 'Human Zoo' and 'Out of the Ordinary' columns for The Guardian, where he
contributes features. He produced the BBC Radio 4 documentary 'Hotel Auschwitz', and currently writes
and presents the Sony nominated Radio 4 series, 'Jon Ronson On...'. He has also made acclaimed
programmes for Channel 4 and BBC2.
Jacob Kirkegaard investigates sonic membranes and discrete interference occurring in different
environments. A graduate of the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne Germany, Kirkegaard has lectured
on archaeological and spatial aspects of sound at the Academy of Architecture in Copenhagen. His
works include live performances, fi lm music, installations and compositions ? 'Soaked', a collaboration
with Philip Jeck (Touch, 2002), '01.02' (Bottrop-boy) and 'Eldfjall' (Touch, 2005). In his latest work for
Touch, '4 Rooms' (2006), Kirkegaard explores the sonic legacy of Chernobyl. Jacob Kirkegaard has been
presented at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark, KIASMA art museum in Finland, Ko?lnischer
Kunstverein, Gallery Rachel Haferkamp and at the Transmediale in Germany. He is also a member of
freq_out.
Rob Young is Editor-at-Large at The Wire magazine and a contributor to Uncut, Frieze, Art Review, The
Guardian and others. His latest book is 'Rough Trade: Labels Unlimited', published by Black Dog.
Lina Dzuverovic is the Executive Director of Electra
Anna Colin lives and works in London as an independent curator, critic and radio producer for
Resonance 104.4fm. Recent projects include 'Radio Gallery', 2006, 'radio.territories', 2006 and 'Six
Sites for Sound', 2005. Since early 2006, she's been involved in setting up and programming 'Canal'
(www.canalonvyner.org), a space for discussion and the presentation and exchange of artistic ideas. As
a critic, she is the London correspondent for Art Press, Paris and a regular contributor to Untitled, London
and Particules, Paris.
Trans-Communication Lab has been made possible thanks to the financial support of The Elephant Trust and of Arts Council England.
Radio Gallery and Electra would like to thank Karen Howell, Curator at the Old Operating Theatre, Museum and Herb Garret and all the staff at the Old Operating Theatre for helping with the coordination of the event.
Finally, we would like to thank Resonance 104.4fm who has been the main partner in Radio Gallery. This event
will be recorded and be broadcast on coming Monday 20th November on Resonance 104.4fm and on the web
www.resonancefm.comfrom 7-8pm.
The event is supported by Arts Council England and The Elephant Trust.
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