[ GUNST ]

word spam sound spam
radia #264: spam 2 + radia #227: in babel
[pls. scroll down for english version]

produktive verwirrung.

da kommt schon wieder was rein, wonach wir nicht gefragt haben. jetzt nicht und so schon gar nicht. aber was soll man machen. machen wir doch das beste daraus.
auch wenn es erst mal ziemlich verwirrend ist. komisch klingt oder ist das vielleicht auch ganz schön so? die stimmen verstehen wir auch nicht. andere sprache, fremde worte. aber was soll an machen. jetzt stecken wir nun mal mittendrin. machen wir doch das beste draus…

credits und hintergrundinformationen: siehe unten

[english]

creative confusion.

again we get what we didn't ask for. definitely not. not now. not that way. but what shall we do? let's get the best out of it. even considering all this sounds strange. completely confusing. or could we say that's fascinating as well? no, we do not understand the language either. strange sounds, strange words. however, now we're already into it.
so let's make the best of this situation, right?

"high (pitch) on air(th)
synthetically amplified voices of the outskirts
= spam e-mail
high and broken feminine voice
low-fi one-take home recording during the preparation for the (yes!) holiday
all those @'s… they drive me to sleep…
get off the internet
get off the internet

(Spam (if you take it as some kind of alternative advertising (or as the abuse of electronic messaging systems)) hardly finds its way into the mainstream reception, it only exists on the outskirts of major media bodies and parasites on their backs.

The crucial point comparing 'spam' with mainstream advertising could be that major advertising firms are exploiting similar promotional techniques, but their ways of publicity enjoy a privileged role over small firms, individual businesses, or simply initiatives uncommercial in their nature etc. (capitalist mode of production/distribution). For me, the interesting thing is the means that unprivileged peoples are exploiting in order to find their way in publicity wars.

The broadcast of synthetically amplified spam e-mails is the starting point in the exploration of the 'alternative' means of distribution, the tactics of using trends/cults/gossip in order to exploit popular culture for emancipatory/socially progressive/anti-establishment goals. This quickly done recording during the last half-an-hour at home before my departure for the holiday mocks the differentiation of work/leisure in capitalist society because of the sounds of preparation being heard in the background and the whole 'rush' quality of the recording. Very literal take on creating 'spam-poetry' could act as an attempt to raise dialogue about the issues surrounding spam, annoy or amuse listeners.)" [A.S.]

andrius savickas is a sound artist from latvia.

in the second part of the show, we'll listen another time to the transformation of two very different cities – halle and chicago – into one…

"The intention […] was to switch into the subject of CITY – refering to the small east German City Halle and the metropolis Chicago- we decided to choose Babylon as the tertium communis.
'In Babel' can also be used according to the Great Oxford – 'babel' means a: a babel of voices, a noisy medley, mostly in today's lingua franca which is English, b: confusion, a scene of confusion, c: as 'Tower of Babel' a gigantic project, and finally d: the biblical confusion of languages.
So this musical-linguistic Babel-project is also a prophet and medium of ancient voices from the lowest levels of the tower of Babel. […]" [B.B./W.B.]

material: soundscapes in halle and in the streets and in the elevator of sear's tower in chicago. music recorded and played by bernd born (bariton sax), wolfram dix (glasses and percussion), peter koch (cello), christoph winckel (kontrabass) and pinguin moschner (tuba) in an underground water tank in halle. lyrics and voices by wilhelm bartsch.

bernd born is a composer and musician and wilhelm bartsch is a writer. both are working and living in halle (saale), germany.

credits:
miss.gunst would like to thank the following artists and sound collectors:
andrius savickas and soundart radio, dartington/uk for spamming us;
bernd born, wilhelm bartsch and radio corax, halle/d, for inviting us to babel;
as well as radia.fm radio art network for being a crowd of incredibly creative partners.