ANTENNA exhibition at Outer Space gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane.
9–30 September 2023.
In collaboration with Debris Facility.
Opening 9 September with performances by Fatshaudi, DJ Orb, Hextape ft Lil Ket.
ANTENNA is a collaborative project by Debris Facility and Bridget Chappell which tunes into the disruptive, discursive and joyous potential of radio, transmission and localised distribution. By re-turning the dial both conceptually and literally on pirate radio, the artists sketch out blueprints for autonomous and micro cultural ecologies, embracing the possibilities of “narrowcasting” – the rejection of mass audience. Occupying the unused spaces and frequencies, ANNTENA provides breaks amongst the commercial stations.
The antenna is a speculation and production method of what it means to tune into, listen, and develop cultures around exchange, interdependence, critical reflections and collective organised chaos and partying. Resonating with the histories, aesthetics and tactics of pirate radio, illegal raves, bootlegging, counterfeits, theft, glitch, artistic pranks and hacking, the artists align with rupture.
Debris and Bridget flip the antenna from being a passive receiver to being one of agency and production, who has the ears and embodiment to tune into the many frequencies at hand. The artists attune to the localised and direct ways to produce and disseminate works to each other, in spite of the ongoing hegemonic forces of platform cultures and corporations. Through this distributed and participatory project, the artists invite you to share in the generative process of re-making existing media infrastructure into something which can be played, shared and driven to excess.
The exhibition includes 16 homemade pirate radio stations broadcasting on the occupied frequencies of the Meanjin dial, many featuring works by local artists: Rebel Yell, Makeda, Ngāsti, Nightwrk, Yvette Ofa Agapow, Enderie, Toecutter, Crake, Luca Rain.
