If the Archive Holds a Seed

The term broadcasting was initially used in agriculture to describe the method of scattering seeds widely by hand (Douglas 1987), which reveals an inherent link between seeds and radio waves as processes of dispersal. But how does the idea of dispersal work within archives and museums? What happens when ‘processual objects’—like seeds and sounds—are held by institutions? Could radio be a way for them to disperse beyond the boundaries of these walls? Join Kate Donovan (4A_Lab Predoctoral Fellow) and Markus Stein at the Berlin Phonogram Archive at the Ethnological Museum as they try to find out.

This artistic research stems from the project “Sound Seeds: Border-crossings and the dispersal of radio-waves, seeds and sound archives” by Kate Donovan at the ​​4A_Lab, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz/ Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. With thanks to Maurice Mengel (Director, Phonogram Archive, Ethnological Museum) and all at the Berlin Phonogram Archive.

Realized with the support of the 4A_Lab (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut).

Listen in on 88.4 FM in Berlin, 90.7 FM in Potsdam
Online at  https://fr-bb.org/ & https://archipel.community/

In cooperation with CoLaboRadio / FR-BB / Cashmere Radio / Archipel Stations Community Radio

Kate Donovan is a Predoctoral Fellow in the interdisciplinary program 4A Laboratory: Art Histories, Archaeologies, Anthropologies, Aesthetics (August 2023–January 2024). She is a researcher and practitioner whose work focusses on listening, ecologies, the more-than-human aspect of radio, and re-thinking/working dominant histories. Her doctoral thesis “Radio as Relation. Listening and the More-than-Human” deals with an expanded theory of electromagnetic frequencies in/of the Anthropocene and was written within the context of the research group SENSING: The knowledge of sensitive media at ZeM – Brandenburg Centre for Media Studies in Potsdam. Much of her practice takes place together with others and circles around knowledge exchange and experimentation. She is part of many collectives, including Planetary Listening, Shortwave Collective, Archipel Stations, Free Radios Berlin Brandenburg and is also the co-founder of Radio Otherwise, an artistic research project motivated by the many knots which art, knowledge-making/sharing and communication encounter. She has made many works for and with radio stations, art organisations, and festivals, most recently: Spree~Channelsea Radio Group (a Cultural Bridge exchange project funded by British Council & Fonds Soziokultur), Struer Tracks Biennial for Sound & Listening / PixelFest /  Radio Art Zone (with Shortwave Collective); Sonic Acts Biennial (with Soundcamp); (In)tangible Transmissions (with DJ Schlucht); Werkleitz Festival (with Birgit Schneider); Soundart Radio (with Jan Verberkmoes); Radio Papesse/Lucia Festival, Florence; Movement Radio, Athens; the Museum for Communication, Berlin and Frankfurt. Her writing appears in various online and print publications, including Versorgerin (AT), Explore Dance Journal (DE), Fusion Journal (AU/UK), Seismograf (DK).

Ernst Markus Stein (*1984 in Mittweida) studied at Kunstakademie Münster (2004–2006) with Daniele Buetti and at Universität der Künste Berlin with Lothar Baumgarten (2006–2010, Meisterschüler). Since 2018 he compiles the sound performance series Geflüster for KM, Berlin, with various artists from the electro acoustic genre and conceptual concrete music. Stein’s artistic works, drawings, poster, sound installation, performances and online presentations were shown at Transmediale at HKW, Berlin (2019), in Plovdiv (European Capital of Culture 2019), at ZKM Karlsruhe (2017), at 1646 in Den Haag (2014) as well as for the broadcasting stations WDR and ORF. As DJ ShluchT and DIY Church he released various LPs and Tapes in collaboration with labels like stence quo (Antwerpen), more records (USA) und ZamZam Records (Bristol) and realizes radio shows and workshops, i.e. for cashmere radio, Radio 23 and reboot.fm.