<nettime> Horweite/Earshot concepts

[Tom Sherman <twsherma@mailbox.syr.edu>]

Horweite/Earshot, Kunstradio, October 29, 2000
gal/Bernhard Loibner/Tom Sherman/Peter Forbes

Pre-performance notes by Bernhard Loibner:


Herwig Kempinger, _Earshot_

"Earshot as spatial phenomenon used to define the specific distance within
which an acoustic signal could be perceived and identified.  Increasing
institutionalization of our senses changed this specifically "spatial-acoustic
" phenomenon into a " real-abstract " one.  Perceiving media like radio, tape,
film, TV, etc., the sender is within earshot of the recipient but this is not
the case vice versa (an exception is the telephone which is bi-directional).
The one-way communication is determined, the switching gets institutionalized.
Earshot does only exist as a meta-phaenomen and thus is exemplary for
communication rituals.  By the way: the english word "sound" also means
"intact, unimpaired, error-free".  The process closes with the speed of sound."

Kempinger's short text above (from the 1970's) is the starting point for the
piece.  It describes a media situation.  We try to remix this concept, reflect
on the text and how this transformation of the "spatial-acoustic" phenomenon
into a "real-abstract" works here and now: the explosion of the telecom sector
and the world wide web enables us (allegedly) to communicate without any
limitation.  Through webcams and live streams we can perceive pictures and
sounds from virtually any geographical location bypassing institutionalized
mediators.  We can get in "touch" with each other, regardless of time or
location.  Still, as individuals we experience the physical separation from our
communication partners to a degree worse than ever.

In a world which promises borderless communication, everybody is a sender and
receiver, but also a well observed user.  It is inevitable that we leave
footprints everywhere in logfiles and databases.  At the same time we
experience the desire to observe, e.g. on one of the countless web sites with
private or public web cams.  Privacy issues are the hot topic in the current
media scenario.  As soon as we surf the web our perception extends infinitely
(in theory).  At the same time we are always within earshot of a potential
observer.

The starting point for the live piece are two public web cams and the voice of
an observer.  He is at home, in his cocoon, on his own.  As a protagonist of
the myth of global communication he is "connected", within our earshot, but
still remains lonely in front of his PC.  He communicates with us via
telephone, while on the screen he watches the scenery in his hometown, in our
studio, listens and reacts to our audio stream (as any web user can do).

For us he is a stand-in, representing 'anyone', one of the countless web users,
one out of millions of telephone calls being relayed simultaneously by the same
satellite.  His voice is a stream in the global noise of communication.  We
filter it out, make it public, lose it in the interference of other sounds.
His voice appears, disappears and reappears within our earshot.

During the piece, sources/streams from different real and virtual locations are
united.  The observer's voice along with other sounds, texts, streams will be
received in the studio via telephone and the net, processed in real time and
projected back into the media/virtual space (radio/network).  The recipient's
earshot gets extended infinitely.  The studio is the hub and catalyst in this
process, information is gathered, processed and fed back into the radio network
and the web.


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For webcam images, text and Mp3 documentation go to:

http://www.allquiet.org/projects/nt/earshot/

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To listen to the whole 55 minute recorded broadcast, go to:

http://kunstradio.at/2000B/29_10_00/index.html

[click on "LISTEN to the RP2 LIVE MIXDOWN/BROADCAST"]

Note:  the 5 minute intro is in German, the performance is in English.

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For more information on Bernhard Loibner and Tom Sherman

(a.k.a. Nerve Theory), check out:  http://www.allquiet.org/ 

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