LISTENING AT THE BORDER
"We are lured by the sonorous, aurally detained and at times surrounded by countless conversations. We all want to hear secrets and we wish to have them told to us; we need the inflection, crave the contract of the undisclosed. In our image-burdened culture we seek the visual but require the audible to complete the message. Listening at the Border examines what it means to monitor the airwaves on patrol, listening in from the perspectives of a westerner trained by the American military in the nuances of a foreign language. This sphere of signals and translation can become overwhelming, causing ruptures through which individuals exit wholly. For this linguist this listening, this concentration of sense became a means of disconnecting, antithetical to military rhetoric: his way out..."
Needham, J. (2007). Subscription to Anonymity. In R. Bandt, M. Duffy, & D. McKinnon (Eds.), Hearing Places, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.
“LISTENING AT THE BORDER ILLUSTRATES THE FANTASY OF THE 20TH CENTURY, THE DESIRE TO KNOW EVERYTHING AND TO HAVE ACCESS TO ALL SECRETS WITHOUT BEING OBSERVED NEEDHAM’S WORK UNRAVELS AND REVEALS LAYERS OF HISTORY, PAST AND PRESENT, ACROSS THE MEDIUMS, SO OUR EXPERIENCE BECOMES PART URBAN GUIDE, PART URBAN GEOGRAPHY, PART DETECTIVE FICTION, RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACE.”
“...AN INTELLIGENT NARRATIVE ABOUT A VERY PERSONAL DILEMMA THAT THE MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY BRINGS ABOUT THROUGH ITS INSISTENCE ON BOTH TRANSPARENCY AND SECRECY. THE SPIRIT OF NIKOLA TESLA, THE TECHNOLOGY PIONEER AND MEDIA VISIONARY, RESONATES THROUGH “LISTENING AT THE BORDER”, INCLUDING THE IMMINENT DANGER OF PERSONAL FAILURE.”
The ABC Radio National program 360 Documentaries.
ABC Radio National Australia's The Night Air aired a radio feature about listening titled Listening In.
I was invited to create a segment for the producers from previously unheard elements from Listening at the Border. The over-all program weaves together so many compelling aspects, an amazing radiophonic work. Listen in....
Featured are: "Oslo Davis a professional eavesdropper, various ear mechanics and a couple of people with unique perspectives on the world of sound; a former music retailer Greg Hartney, who suffers from nerve deafness and radio broadcaster Glen Morrow who is legally blind. Brain waves, sound waves, shock waves....radio waves - angels and angst, memory and message." Produced by Marian Blythe and John Tebbutt for ABC.
The Third Coast Festival's ever wonderful Re:sound is airing and streaming THE TRANSMISSIONS SHOW.
Listening at the Border is a part of the hour long line-up as well as David Goren's haunting work titled Atencion: Seis Siete Tres Siete Cero: The Shortwave Numbers Mystery, Roman Mars work Max Neuhaus and Pirate Station by Emily Botein, Sherre DeLys, John Lurie, and Rick Moody.