The use of non-narratives forms

in radio”Experimenting with time and

sound”

MS1404

Sound Audience as ‘blind listener’

Hackney Podcasts (Writers Walk)2012

See:

1. What are non-narrative forms in radio?

Narrative forms – Last semester –making sense of world

Drama – Radio play - clip ‘A Lad In The City’

Documentary feature BBCRadio 1 Stories -

Journalism – eg news bulletin, investigative stories and scoops

Non-narrative forms – Challenging perceptions of world

Thematic feature – story telling on a theme

Soundscapes –stories told through sound

Sound artists – audio as an art form

Cut up techniques – collage’s in radio

Criticism of modernity: Freud & surrealism

“The dream has come to represent all that has been repressed in waking life” (*Sigmund Freud –1856-1939 reading 1 workbooks)

Freud offers challenge to conventional modes of perception and making sense of world.

Exposing non-rational motivations Dreams and our subconscious Dreams as a way of accessing cultural and

personal repression Surprise element – things are not always as they ‘seem’

Freud continued

Three key areas: Condensation – Merging of different memories into one

Displacement – Turning disturbing images and memories into something more pleasing and palatable

Symbolism –a Replacing disturbing images, often of a sexual nature with a more neutral one.

According to Freud these relate to our subconscious selves, often visiting us in dreams.

" A dream without condensation, distortion, dramatisation and above all wish-fulfillment, surely hardly deserves the name” (Sigmund Freud)

Freud cont’d

Element of surprise and the unexpected Collapse of time Freud’s theories lend themselves well to

experimentation through the medium of radio because it is relatively easy to manipulate the ‘blind listener’ through sound. (less distractions)

Non-narrative: the historical context

New millennium triumphalism of imperial powers

Unfairness and social inequality of capitalism

Unprecedented slaughter of WW1 1919 Flu epidemic Influence of Freud The depression of the 1930’s

Criticism of modernity: surrealism

Freud offers challenge to conventional modes of perception

Exposing non-rational motivations Dreams access cultural and personal

repression

History

Sound has many potential uses as an arts and entertainment form beyond what we hear on mainstream radio

In US limited range of radio forms has been blamed on commercialisation of the medium

http://www.somewhere.org/NAR/index.html?272,78

‘Pictures painted in sound’ are a common art form in German radio links between dreams and poetry - the word poetry in German translated into English means to condense – think back to Freud’s theory of ‘condensation’

History cont/ In UK always been a history of experimentation

in radio, tied to the development of the radio feature

The radio feature was similar to the documentary traditions in photography and journalism

1958 The Radio Ballads By Ewan MacColl: No narrator, just songs, sounds and recorded speech, real people not actors

A milestone because it broke with the conventions of the documentary feature,

Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker The Travelling People (1964)

History cont/ Similar to collage Influenced by

Brecht’s “Epic Theatre”

This deliberately tried to alienate the audience to encourage critical thought

Tried to prevent the “suspension of disbelief” Richard Hamilton Just What Is It That Makes Today’s

Homes So Different, So Appealing? 1956

Non-narrative techniques Cut up

Invented by Brion Gysin, a painter, poet and sound artist and collaborator with William BurroughsPistol Poem (1960)Cut ups (1959/1982)

The Sunday Format, R4 1999 - 2004 Process of radio editing is in itself a cut up and can

manipulate reality more effectively than film:

Chris Morris – On The Hour - 2005

New American Radio & Radio Art

Works created by artists who participated in New Radio and Performing Arts’ NRPA New American Radio during the 1980’s & ‘90’s.

Radio holds a unique place in American cultural history, shaping of popular culture in particular.

Bridge between two halves of 20th century.

For three decades radio held a central place in our living rooms.

New American Radio Art cont’d

Even when Radio was superceded by television, still very influential and a primary conduit for youth culture and its music- rock ‘n’ roll

For a great number of Americans who were in their teens and early twenties in the 1950’s and 60’s, radio and automobiles are inseparable.

Not surprisingly, radio continued to hold a special fascination for a generation of of American artists for whom it had become part of their life experience and imagination http://www.somewhere.org/NAR/index.html?272,78

Dreams in sound and Poetry

Going back briefly to our theme of dreams and the subconscious and the power of radio, wanted to play a couple of clips from this creative soundscape feature. Poetry Texas is a feature about a place and about poetry, it also sounds like poetry.

Poetry Texas – clip 1 BBC Radio 4, 2012 (Pejk Malinovski) Poetry Texas – clip 2

Avant Garde Radio

Non commercial and pirate radio 1970’s It was the advent in the 70’s of non-

commercial, listener sponsored public radio on the FM band, including college and local community radio stations that opened up the possibilities of ‘art on the airwaves’ as an alternative to rigidly formatted commercial radio.

(dominated by advertising interest)

Pirate Radio, music, DJ mix

You could argue that it is only on non commercial stations that artists are truly allowed to experiment and flourish

Importance of pirate and community radio

Away for constraints of big bosses and money. Dj mixes. A collective spirit and audience. The DJ takes the listener on a journey

Non-narrative techniques Borrowed from literature

Stream of consciousness: Authors like Jack Kerouac ‘On The Road’ – he was influenced in turn by William Burroughs

* Can mean the listener doesnt know how to‘read’ the text - should they read it as a fictional representation or as something which is literally true? Chris Morris: trailer bushwacked? BBC Radio 4

Sound themes Down the Drain – BBC Radio 4 doc sound of water

Idea themes Laurie Anderson: Same time tomorrow People like us: Dolly Pardon

Non-narrative techniques

Soundscapes Trying to engage the listener by using sound alone,

often through the use of field recordings of natural sound.

Helen Thorington (1990) Land of the imagination

Jose Iges and Concha Jerez (1994) City of Water Christian Marclay (1990) Shop Talk Chris Watson (2002) Vatnajokuli, from Weather

Report Sound Installations

'Lowlands' - Susan Philipsz Turner Art Prize Winner 2010

Web resources

• History of Ewan MacColl’s work:www.pegseeger.com/html/ewan.html• CD booklet for The Radio Balladswww.topicrecords.co.uk • Huge range of downloadable sound art:www.ubu.com/• Fan website devoted to Chris Morriswww.cookdandbombd.co.uk/

Web resources

• Info about sonic arts

www.sonicartsnetwork.org/• Pressure group campaigning for sonic

environment

www.acousticecology.org/index.html• Soundscape CDs with downloadable clips

http://www.earthear.com/

Website for making cut ups

http://www.hamiltonsbrain.co.uk/cutup/cutup.htm

Listen

Hackney Podcasts

Audio, experimentation, listen and ‘observe with your ears’

http://hackneypodcast.co.uk/