Radio reborn: radio art across borders

The themes of extended duration, radical temporality and the propensity of sound and radio waves to traverse borders, both territorial and disciplinary, underpins the theme of this paper.

In 1988, Polish artist Wojciech Bruszewski and German artist Wolf Kahlen were granted an ongoing analogue radio license with which to transmit Radio Ruins of Art, intended as a philosophical discourse
on infinity‘ (Bruszewski, 2007). The station was run from West Berlin from 1988 using computer software which enabled the automated playout‘ of a random and everchanging loop of recorded ideas: a philosophical enquiry that would be broadcast indefinitely, using a chance-based compositional playout system, where the characters‘
artificial synthesised voices sounded as if they were talking in real time.

[The] discourse was led by two characters: Gary and Paula, whereas a ,radical cross-section‘ of the world’s philosophical writings was presented by a computer. (Bruszewski, 2007) Radio Ruins of Art was the first radio installation of its kind, marking a significant achievement in the establishment of radio art as a discipline. However, the fall of the Berlin Wall and greater commercial concerns
forced Radio Ruins in Art off air in December, 1993. The state was less concerned with radio art in perpetuity than with the further liberalisation of the airwaves, revoking the license as part of a movement to open up the spectrum to commercial broadcasters. Intended as a ,philosophical discourse on infinity‘, Bruszewski’s work may be considered the world’s longest radio art broadcast to date
on terrestrial radio. I wish to explore this project and consider its legacy looking at German artists collective LIGNA Airtime (2013) a live radio action which crossed boarders across Europe.