The exhibition Human Chain Acting as a Radio Antenna explored histories of radio communication and technology, and how disruptions from nature can take on different forms in human experience. Sounds and voices seem to come from the ether; a vehicle for stories giving rise to speculations and superstitions, fantasies and fear, and how we are trying to define these phenomena through science and psychology.
The change to DAB began in Nordland fylke in January, and in Bergen in June. FM signals will be finally silenced in the region of Oslo September 2017. Nora Adwan and Kjersti Sundland travelled to Lofoten for this particular time, experiencing firsthand the disruption this created in the local neighborhoods. They sat in queues on dark icy roads, watching lorries being winched out from ditches; the vital weather stations silenced, leaving people stranded. They heard the fears of the fishing communities who are completely dependent on radio signals. Despite access to other technologies, the radio silence triggered fear of isolation in an area traditionally so weather dependent.
Human chain acting as a radio antenna is made up of a sound installation and a performance. The sound installation consists of a radio broadcast where analogue radio signals and conductivity of material are explored, together with fragments of stories. There have been stories about voices in the aurora borealis for centuries; the artists recorded the aurora sound on their trip to Lofoten. The performance explores this natural phenomenon, and how the human body interacts with radio signals; performed by dancer Liv Basberg every Sunday during the exhibition period, as well as on the opening night of the exhibition.
Documentation of sculpture made from melted copper cables. Photo: Nora Adwan.