Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM

I guess my initial feelings of trepidation regarding this final project is how big and undefined it feels. Or maybe, I’m just feeling a little too influenced by the Glissant reading… Either way, I think one of my main goals in becoming acquainted with this project is breaking it down into smaller pieces, the first of which being location. The task of choosing a place to install my final project begs to be disassembled even further, though.

On a campus as large as three Disneyland’s combined, how does one even begin to demarcate the boundaries between each region of our university? Is it a matter of acknowledging the predetermined spaces parceled out by the administration, or the culture of the student body, or should we aim to entirely carve out our own spaces based on the symbolic significances we personally tie to them? Most likely, I have a feeling that I’m going to end up with a combination of both.

Funnily enough, the thought of choosing a location to center my project is freaking me out because of how vulnerable it feels. To show, at least to a select audience, a part of my lived experience through the installation of my radio transmitter feels really up close and personal. I find this a bit oxymoronic, because how are we meant to create any meaningful art if it’s not imbued with a sense of intimate connection, of memory or nostalgia or response? Especially when it comes to my writing, I find that most of my work is solely drawn from my own life–writing sci-fi, or fantasy, or nonfiction has never been my forte. I’m a literary fiction girl for the win.

To tie it back to Glissant’s discussion of opacity and obscurity, I’ve found a bit of relief in the conclusion that the location that I choose for my project doesn’t necessarily require an explanation. The transparency that I have towards that place may be obscure to other viewers, but their experience of the space may very well be obscure to me. Hopefully by next week’s journal, I will have come up with more concrete ideas to start brainstorming my project with. It’ll definitely require a couple more mental disassembling on my end.

-sydney 🙂