Electromagnetic Touch: Radios and Community Workshops with Asian Arts Initiative and Fleisher Art Memorial

We are excited to announce “Electromagnetic Touch: Radios and Community” workshops in collaboration with Fleisher Art Memorial and Asian Arts Initiative that culminates in a summer Radio Art Installation at AAI!

As part of the second seminar in the Found in Translation series, these free workshops run from April 4 through May 16, including one introductory online session and three in-person sessions. Content will include a historical overview of radio history, hands-on experimentation with radio technologies, and developing radio stories through Queer perspectives.

Find registration links and workshop descriptions below!

All sessions will meet on Mondays from 6:30-8:30pm.

Online seminars will be provided with live Spanish interpretation.

Spaces are limited.

“The Fleisher Art Memorial Found in Translation is a free series of art history and critical theory workshops organized by Fleisher in partnership with several cultural institutions throughout Philadelphia. The series specifically focuses on centering BIPOC and Queer voices, reflecting a more inclusive view of the communities we work with in South Philadelphia as well as the interests of our students. Beginning in February 2022 and spanning the rest of the year, Found in Translation will feature six humanities seminars—each running for a number of weeks—spanning a wide array of topics related to historical and contemporary perspectives in art, film, and literature.”

Radio History and its Technology
Monday, April 4, 2022, 6:30 – 8:30pm
(virtual session hosted on Zoom)

This workshop will cover the fundamentals of radio, its radical history and its technology, breaking down the differences between CB, HAM, AM & FM, covering the basic mechanisms and policy. We will examine a history of FCC regulations and how they have impacted the commercialization and privatization of radio. We will trace a timeline of pirate radio activities throughout the 20th century up until the present, learning about how and why radio technology has been a tool for resistance since its inception.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/electromagnetic-touch-radios-and-community-tickets-298091348247

Hands-on Radio Circuit Experimentation
Monday, April 18, 2022, 6:30 – 8:30pm

This workshop will be a hands-on building opportunity for the community to familiarize themselves with radio technology in a more tactile way. This workshop will involve tinkering that contributes to the conceptual art piece that SMC is building for AAI. In this way, this work of art is further engaging with the community as they work with SMC to create this radio art. By doing so, it will also be an introduction to a unique form of technical literacy. In this workshop we will be dissecting portable battery powered radios. This will serve as an introduction to the mechanical functionality of the radio. Additionally, we will be removing the circuit board from its enclosure and turning it into an unconventional instrument by having participants use their bodies as an antenna and playing the circuit-board. The result will be interesting squeaks, noises and perhaps radio station broadcasts. These circuit boards and speakers will then be used in the creation of an interactive wall that will be a part of the final art exhibition.

Developing Radio Programs with Queer Histories & Storytelling
Monday. May 2, 2022, 6:30 – 8:30pm

This will be a hands-on learning opportunity where attendees will be developing skills to create quality radio programming. This workshop will cover the basics of recording good audio such as interviews and voiceovers, Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and legal IDs, Bed Music and Transitions, and the fundamentals of excellent radio content. This will also be an opportunity for participants to discuss the kind of content that they want to hear on RADIO AAI. The intention of this workshop is that the material created from participants will be broadcasted. We will also be referencing some radical historical queer programs from the past 70 years, both in order to acknowledge the amazing programming history that has come before us, and also to use their frameworks for developing our own programming templates and ideas.

Editing in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)
Monday, May 16, 2022, 6:30 – 8:30pm

This workshop will review technical details of putting together a radio program from fading in/out, adjusting the levels/volumes of your audio, and adding music. There will be an ask for people to come prepared with playlists, stories or interviews. This workshop will take place at Fleisher’s Digital Media Lab with access to computers, and offer a hands-on experience to create content ready to be aired on AAI Radio. If you have access to your own laptop, we encourage you to bring it. We highly encourage attendees to bring their own laptops. SMC can be responsible for installing free user-friendly DAWs for participants if they are not already on the computers.

Funding for Found in Translation has been provided by PA Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.