87.5 Call to Karaoke
The Murcia region of Spain has had a complex and violent history as a contested territory in age-old struggles between nations, religions and ideologies. Today the coastal border is a critical frontier of the EU fortress and a focal point for Western paranoia around immigration, Islam and the terror threat, while in reality the region’s fading Islamic heritage is being overwritten by an influx of British immigrants that brings with it an ex-pat culture of Karaoke, full-English breakfast and binge-drinking.
The format of radio transmission provided an opportunity to explore the collision of these cultures old and new, and to raise questions around freedom of movement and contemporary colonialism. Borrowing from the disparate cultural broadcasting rituals of Karaoke and prayer, a series of timed transmissions were broadcast over the course of a day during MANIFESTA 2010, European Biennial for Contemporary Art. These transmissions were illegally broadcast over the official MANIFESTA Biennial radio station 87.5 Radio ONDA, in an attempt to disrupt the dominant flow of information and in resistance to MANIFESTA’s affirmation of Eurocentric, international contemporary art’s role in the repressive power relations of globalisation.
These transmissions were part of Free Radio Africa, a temporary pirate radio station which broadcast alongside MANIFESTA 2010, Murcia, Spain.
Related links:
Visit the No Fixed Abode website
Visit the MANIFESTA website
The Murcia region of Spain has had a complex and violent history as a contested territory in age-old struggles between nations, religions and ideologies. Today the coastal border is a critical frontier of the EU fortress and a focal point for Western paranoia around immigration, Islam and the terror threat, while in reality the region’s fading Islamic heritage is being overwritten by an influx of British immigrants that brings with it an ex-pat culture of Karaoke, full-English breakfast and binge-drinking.
The format of radio transmission provided an opportunity to explore the collision of these cultures old and new, and to raise questions around freedom of movement and contemporary colonialism. Borrowing from the disparate cultural broadcasting rituals of Karaoke and prayer, a series of timed transmissions were broadcast over the course of a day during MANIFESTA 2010, European Biennial for Contemporary Art. These transmissions were illegally broadcast over the official MANIFESTA Biennial radio station 87.5 Radio ONDA, in an attempt to disrupt the dominant flow of information and in resistance to MANIFESTA’s affirmation of Eurocentric, international contemporary art’s role in the repressive power relations of globalisation.
These transmissions were part of Free Radio Africa, a temporary pirate radio station which broadcast alongside MANIFESTA 2010, Murcia, Spain.
6.49am BUT THE NIGHTS WERE ALWAYS WARM WITH YOU HOLDING YOU RIGHT BY MY SIDE |
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Visit the No Fixed Abode website
Visit the MANIFESTA website