Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM

There was a lot of last minute confusion with the installation of this piece (including not being aware I was meant to upload it to WordPress last week, so please see it attached all the way at the bottom of this entry!).

Once Trans Idioma was recorded and uploaded, I met up with my partner later in the week to receive the transmitter board I would be installing at Geisel. My coworkers at Geisel have been nothing but supportive and helpful, I really am very grateful. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware I would need to provide my own charging block, but my Geisel contact was kind enough to bring one in for me today! Installation finally done!

I have attached an image of the installation and the label I created for it. I didn’t really want to spill the secrets of my soul and the meanings of every line, so I just summarized it, attributed some credits and context, and taped it on there. Also provided a transcript version, I don’t imagine a lot of people carry around their own radio.

I believe the heart of the piece is my play with familiar sounds, music, and memories tethered to different languages I’ve come into contact with. It could definitely do with more attuned editing, but it’s not like this course was dedicated to learning about that process, so I did my best! It was fun to work with a new medium near the finish line, I would definitely be interested in fiddling around with other written pieces and transferring them to audios. This class really taught me the importance and impact of authors AND readers reading pieces out-loud. 

Since I didn’t go in-depth for my label, here’s further context and reflections on the finished piece:

It features three songs in varying languages; Spanish/Korean/French. Ironically the song in Korean is a cover of a song originally written in Spanish. Full circle! I found myself reflecting a lot on what core memories were directly linked to different languages, whether these memories were nostalgic, upsetting, funny, or emotional. In general, despite hints of difficult topics or conversations, I didn’t take myself too seriously with this one. Of course, I put a lot of effort into it and listened to my peers’ feedback. However, I mostly played it by ear and the addition of each song occurred immediately following the editing of the audio. It just made sense. This piece turned out to be a sort of language journal! I hope to continue to explore this type of journaling in the future.