"Somewhere a Voice is Calling" (2007) - Performance by Anna Friz, Glenn Gear, and Absolute Value of Noise. January 17th at 8pm PST.

Inspired by the history of Reginald Fessenden's voice on radio and the "secrets" of radiation, these three artists have been working with the themes of "invisible" sounds, hidden voices, the early days of radio communication (primarily on the Atlantic Ocean from 1900 - 1907), and micro-casting using low-power transmitters in performance spaces. Drawing from tales of ghost ships and myths from the early days of radio that claimed the seafaring dead could be contacted via shortwave, this performance conjures an ethereal world of distant voices, sea, and static.

Anna Friz will consider the very human desire for remote contact as manifest in the notion of "inaudible" transmissions (from the living or the dead). She works with the extremely low-watt transmissions of voice and breath as captured through baby monitors, walkie talkies, and cordless phones, as she is interested in the way this very mortal sound has been rendered both fragile and monstrous through the compression of these lo-fidelity technologies. For this performance Anna will depart from a regular sound system to employ multiple small FM transmitters and receivers for diffusion.

Glenn Gear works with video and software to create dynamic visual montages - in this case focusing on the theme of the ocean, shipping, and early radio communication. In this performance, he works with the "distressed", ephemeral video image - exploring the signal and video noise that is generated through broadcast and independent transmissions (ghosts and echoes from the aural/visual aether).

Absolute Value of Noise plays with VLF (very low frequency) receivers to convert radiation (from transmitters, cell-phones, different wireless devices and electronic equipment) into audible sound. In this performance, he uses large circular antennas to draw strange noises from the low-watt broadcast equipment (radio and TV) of the other performers.