Kakophonia is an interactive AM/FM radio frequency installation instrument consisting of 3 wooden towers, a DIY controller keyboard and 26 am/fm portable transistor radios each with its own small audio speaker.
The left and right towers function as antennas for the center tower which contains the 26 transistor radios. The radios are all tuned in situ at the exhibition space to receive local radio frequency. The controller keyboard is connected to the radios and faces the radio towers. The radios are turned on and off by the public typing into the QWERTY controller keyboard, creating a unique and noisy analogue radio frequency sampler. The 3 towers of the Kakophonia stand 2,1 metres (83 inches) high and are 0,6 metres (24 inches) round. The modified QWERTY keyboard is 1,01 metres (40 inches) high.
Exhibitions
1998 – Send + Receive Festival of Sound / Video Pool / CKUW 95.9 FM, Winnipeg, MB/CA
1998 – The Interface – Intermedia Arts Festival, Boreal Electro Acoustic Music Society, Edmonton, AB/CA
Related work
1990 – Ariel Harp, Between Edges
1990 – The New Gallery, Ariel Harp, solo sound installation, Calgary, AB/CA
1990 – The Works Visual Arts Festival – Acts / Brian Webb Dance Company / John L. Haar Theatre, collaboration with Springboard Dance Company, Between Edges – 10-channel audio dance performance, Edmonton, AB/CA
steve heimbecker 