STAR Radio
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The Project in brief:
STAR Radio was a project that explored the specificity of a 1 – mile geographic area. By exploring this area in all of its multiplicity the project sought to create a relationship between the micro and the macro; in looking very closely at the specifics of a place one discovers all places, all peoples and in fact, all the world, here.
This was the premise of STAR radio.
The realisation of the project came through the construction of a framework which sought to examine STAR as a multi- layered map, or to suggest a multiplicitous reality. The creation of radio programmes plotted points on a virtual map, connecting groups of people, thoughts or ideas to one another- in order to construct a psycho – topography of the area. That is, a map of information which is un-mappable, the local, everyday knowledge which belongs to place and, because of its acute subjectivity and personality, is rarely revealed as ‘information’, it is simply lived knowledge.
My practice often refers to this idea of lived knowledge or local knowledge. I believe that this kind of information can not be ‘extracted’ or ‘studied’ in the academic sense, it has to be revealed through a collaborative process which invites a shared participation and also a shared outcome. From this basis STAR Radio evolved. Before going into the mechanics and ideas relating to the project I would like to give a brief outline to and describe what STAR Radio was.
STAR Radio was a 1 week broadcast event. Between October 22- 29 2005 we broadcast to the suburban districts of Splott, Tremorfa Adamsdown and Roath. The content of the broadcast, however, was the result of a 6 months process based in these localities which invited people to come to the Radio Shop, on Clifton Street, make radio programmes, host talk shows or do some research or audio work relating to an aspect of the place. 17 artists were also invited to respond to the area and present radio programmes developed during this 6 - month research period. The one - week broadcast was the final transmission of this work.
When the broadcast was finished all of this sound (some 160 hours of programmes) was re-organised into a web - based archive and also shown as an audio archive at the National Museum and Galleries of Wales, in December 2005.
This introduction is also the introduction to a book currently being produced about the project. The book is the conclusion of the project its aim is to describe the making process, discuss the main ideas surrounding the archive, present the sound archive on DVD and CD Rom with index system and also to act as a document of the project. To have news of launch date/ recieve a copy email throught his site.
STAR Radio: Expanded Introduction
STAR radio started on an overcast November day in Tremorfa. (2003) As with most ideas it felt like a light bulb going on after fumbling around in the dark for several months looking for the light switch. I had been living in Tremorfa for a few years at this point and, on a daily basis, cycled across Splott, Adamsdown and Roath on my way to the studio. My quotidian journey across these areas often evoked a question, jogged my memory or set the scene for my wondering mind and, during these daily journey’s I often wondered, what is this place? Not, in the sense of what is this purpose but in the sense that its ‘reality’ always seemed intangible or indefinable. Its physicality being the only clue or way into the human life of the area. I often wondered about the narrative or inner life of the place, Who puts the sheet up on the park railings that says “Happy 40th Birthday Mark”, Who are the “Tremorfire Crew” and, as an outsider or new comer, how do I fit into this place?
Any city is in a constant state of flux, changing and responding to economics, social agenda and political ideas. The effects of time alter the physicality of a place and, in fact, nowhere really remains constant. Yet, when we consider a place we often see it as static, a source of comfort or representing a sense of longevity. Place is often referred to in nostalgic terms that romanticise what was and question what is now and yet it is the human manifestations that appear in a place which suggest or allude to its inner life; the graffiti, posters and front gardens, revealing little signs or subtle changes to the inner life of an area.
STAR is an acronym for 4 distinct inner city suburbs of Splott, Tremorfa, Adamsdown and Roath, areas that were initially developed in response to the needs of industry during the 1860’s. The term STAR is an historic grouping of these eastern suburbs, but is not generally used today. In re- introducing the name I sought to create a space which was almost a fiction, in its re - naming one could de- territorialize the area and construct something which invited a collective re-imaging of the geography. In many ways this was the start of the ‘telling’ of STAR.
Before going into more detail about the project it is important to write a few lines about how the project happened. The mechanics of a project, its set up and funding are often telling and indicative and, in this case, these mechanics are very much bound up in a wider, economic, meta- narrative of the area. Also I think the making of the project is a large part of the work, or in fact, is the work.
I began working on STAR Radio as an idea in 2003. As an artist my practice focuses on ideas of representation and reality, in particular looking at the ways in which one can create documents that allude to a representation of the real or suggest a truth. The idea for STAR Radio developed out of this practice and also my own sense of wanting to belong in the place in which I lived- in that sense it is a very personal project. I began working on the project by meeting people who lived and worked in STAR, talking to them about my idea and asking them if they thought I should pursue it. Everyone I approached was very enthusiastic but, of course, a project of this scale is going to need more that just enthusiasm. I began to propose it to a number of locally based organisations and to the Communities First team. No cash was forth coming. I decided to write a constitution and set STAR Radio up as a not-for- profit organisation. This wasn’t ideal for me, conceptually, as I wanted the project to be illusive and to arrive and disappear leaving no legacy other than the archive. Months went by, still lots of encouragement but nothing concrete. In June 2004 I was invited to take part in an exhibition at CBAT, the arts and Regeneration organisation, called ‘Aint No Love In The Heart Of The City”. I showed STAR Radio as a blue skies project. In fact I thought that was probably the end of it. However in October of that year, Zoe King from CBAT came back to me. They had been asked to apply for European Retrospective funding and asked me if we could go ahead with STAR Radio. From then on things moved really fast and by January 2005 I began setting up the project, recruiting staff and researching the artists I would like to work with. By June of the same year The STAR Radio shop had opened.
The project constructed a framework which invited people to represent something of where they lived- this could be anything from a documentary to a radio play or music from the area. Through this process we, as individuals represented our own ‘map’ of STAR, collectively, however, we have re-drawn the territory, re- represented it through a multiplicity of ‘images’, which paints a picture of STAR beyond its present day post-industrial representation. STAR Radio sought to represent a place at a moment in time looking at the current, rather than the past. The radio broadcast was a stream of consciousness that created a narrative which wove in and out of the ‘real’ place. The resulting sound archive, however, works in a different way. The broadcasting event was a live, interactive, moment in the mythology of the area. The archive however is about how the area will be represented in the future, by collectively constructing an archive of sound STAR will show itself to the ‘future’ in the way that it wishes to be perceived today. It is taking control of its historical representation. The archive, therefore, is a way of challenging or questioning the effects of time on a place.
STAR radio has been a momentary blip in the life of the area, the archive is like a snapshot or family photo album. The programmes paint a picture of place. Like any photo it barely scratches the surface of recording its ‘reality’ but it tells us something about our place. Every programme in the archive is a facet of STAR and represents something of this time. As with all family albums it will be kept for posterity and ‘shown’ around.
In 5, 10, 15 or 50 years time this archive will change. The material in it will not alter, but what we hear will be different- the voices on the street will sound like ghosts and the children who made the radio play will be adults.
The last part of the project was the exhibition of the STAR Archive at the National Museum and Galleries of Wales. The museum is an institution traditionally reserved for iconic figures, in this exhibition the people of STAR take their place and in the future will become the iconic voices of history. Following this exhibition all the material will be housed at the Museum of Cardiff as a sound archive. It will also be kept on line at www.starradio.org.uk . A copy of the archive can also be found on the DVD in this book.